Director Ridley Scott has adapted Peter Heller's post-apocalyptic novel The Dog Stars into a feature film starring Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin.
The 88-year-old filmmaker put aside all other active projects to direct the sci-fi adaptation after reading a screenplay written by Mark L. Smith.
Scott, who is approaching his 89th birthday, explained that he pays close attention whenever a science fiction story works well on paper. He noted that he reacts intuitively to material and began getting nervous halfway through Smith's script that the screenwriter might drop the ball. When Smith sustained the quality throughout, Scott dropped his other commitments after wrapping production on his Gladiator sequel to focus entirely on the film.
Although Scott refuses to discuss retirement, the project is described as likely being his swan song. Scott is an English film director and producer knighted for services to British cinema, celebrated for landmark science fiction films such as Alien and Blade Runner, as well as the feminist drama Thelma & Louise and the historical epic Gladiator. Over a career spanning more than four decades, his films have been defined by a fascination with sweeping landscapes, environments that dwarf human figures, and characters searching for something beyond the horizon.
Screenplay Adaptation and Visual Style
Screenwriter Mark L. Smith adapted Heller's book following his work co-writing the 2015 survival drama film The Revenant. Addressing how to translate the novel's literary qualities to the screen, Scott explained that poetry serves as the visual language in the film. He stated that cinematography functions as the portrait of any movie, whether a feature-length motion picture or a commercial, adding that directors often fail to know where to place the camera.
The film is adapted from the 2012 novel by American author Peter Heller, which was published in Spain by Blackie Books, an independent publishing house based in Barcelona. While critics often note that major motion pictures rarely match celebrated works of literature, Scott's film stands alongside Heller's original writing.
Certain elements of Heller's novel remain distinct to the written page, including its poetic post-apocalyptic atmosphere, explicit sexual romance, and the romantic introspection of its protagonist. Heller's text features precise observations of nature, detailing specific species of birds, fish, and plants, recalling the meticulous environmental descriptions of Spanish novelist Miguel Delibes. The internal world of the lead character blends the aviator sensibility of French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry with the electric blue space cowboy of Spanish rock band M-Clan, presented with a stylistic precision reminiscent of Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges.
Post-Apocalyptic Narrative and Character Focus
Scott deliberately rejected common post-apocalyptic tropes during production. The director stated that while there are many zombie movies in cinema, there are no zombies present in this story. Instead, Scott insisted that optimism had to be an essential element of the film, focusing on how a human survivor finds a genuine reason to keep living after a devastating global pandemic wipes out almost everything.
Australian actor Jacob Elordi, who is of Basque descent and known for his roles in high-profile dramas, plays the lead protagonist Hig, also known as Big Hig. Hig lives alongside his neighbour Bangley, portrayed by American actor Josh Brolin. While Heller's novel describes Bangley as a man who spent his entire life preparing for extreme survival scenarios, Hig searches for deeper purpose and emotional meaning in the ruined world.
Hig possesses food, weapons, an operational aircraft, and a dog, while sharing his immediate environment with Bangley. However, he lacks anyone to tell that he is still alive. While Spanish singer-songwriter Joaquin Sabina once famously listed over a hundred reasons not to end one's life, Hig requires only a single reason to preserve his existence. Drawing parallels to a stranded astronaut seeking signals from space, Hig flies his plane while listening for signs of human life across radio waves.
Journey to Grand Junction
A crackling voice transmitted over radio frequency from Grand Junction, a city located in western Colorado, becomes the primary catalyst for Hig's journey. Hearing the broken transmission offers Hig the possibility that another human being remains alive on the other side of the silence, prompting him to pilot his aircraft across the post-apocalyptic landscape in search of contact.
