Ridley Scott’s next film loses Paul Mescal to The Beatles, and brings Jacob Elordi in to headline The Dog Stars instead.
During his press tour for Gladiator II, Ridley Scott revealed to Film Stories that a sci-fi project had been added to his upcoming slate, that was going to be a quick reunion with Paul Mescal. However, according to Variety, the project will no longer be a continuation of the working relationship between Gladiator 2 director and star because Mescal has reportedly left the project.
Mescal starred in Scott’s belated sequel to 2000’s Gladiator and in the wake of the movie’s release, his performance choices have been the subject of much discussion, positive and less so. Ridley Scott is well known for hands-off direction when it comes to performances in his films and Mescal clearly enjoyed their collaboration given that he opted to work with Scott again in The Dog Stars which according to IMDb, is currently in pre-production.
Here’s a quick synopsis for the film:
Based on the Peter Heller 2012 apocalyptic thriller novel, the story unfolds in a near future where an unnamed pandemic has decimated American society. A civilian pilot (Elordi) lives a lonely life on an abandoned Colorado airbase with his dog and a tough ex-marine. The two men, though mismatched, depend on each other to fend off a roaming band of scavengers called Reapers.
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Both Scott and Mescal are in-demand at present, and according to the report, their schedules simply don’t line up for The Dog Stars anymore. Mescal has apparently committed to Sam Mendes’ Beatles project in which he is said to be playing Paul McCartney. If reports are accurate, that’s surely a monster shoot given that there are four separate films (one for each member of the Fab Four) lined up for a simultaneous release.
Given how quickly Scott shoots these days, he’s not the type of sentimental filmmaker who will wait around for his Gladiator II collaborator and so, Mescal is reportedly out of the project which was was named back in November. Instead, Saltburn star Jacob Elordi is in and will fit this project somewhere around his work on Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights which we’ve heard is shooting here in the UK imminently.
The Dog Stars was planned to be in front of cameras by April – unless Scott’s planned Bee Gees biopic has moved things around. We can expect to see both The Dog Stars and Wuthering Heights in front of eyeballs either later this year or perhaps early in 2026, marking a big moment for Jacob Elordi’s flourishing career. We’ll bring you more on this project as we hear it.
