TORONTO – Celebrated filmmaker Ridley Scott, now 87, has returned to filming in Italy for his latest project The Dog Stars. It was well reported that Scott had intended to shoot Gladiator II at Rome’s legendary Cinecittà, but lost out to another Gladiator-based TV show Those About to Die. Both productions were shooting concurrently which meant Scott had to use Malta as a stand-in for Ancient Rome. Fortunately, the filmmaker is back shooting in Italy as of yesterday.
The prolific Gladiator Director will of course be eternally connected to Italy, despite also having made such influential films like Alien, Blade Runner, and Thelma & Louise – and more recently The House of Gucci and Napoleon. His proclivity to both work in Italy and tell Italian stories, is as good a sign as any that Italy remains a top destination for the industry’s best.
In 2024, there was growing concern in Italy over the Meloni Government’s impending Tax Reforms. Industry professionals were left to pause their productions while the Ministry of Culture revised the rebate criteria. The application for funds was frozen for much of last year, until September’s announcement was rolled out. The coveted 40% tax rebate which had been the catalyst for Italy’s recent film & tv boom, remained intact for the most part.
The caveat, as Lucia Borgonzoni (undersecretary for culture) stated last August: “For international productions, if an Italian actor, director, or screenwriter is used, we will give a 40% tax credit. So it’s actually a reward, because we are providing a 30% rebate for international productions that come to shoot in Italy. But we tell them: if there is Italian talent involved, instead of giving you 30%, we give you 40%”.
It’s not yet clear whether Scott has cast an Italian in the film for the extra 10% rebate, but we do know his principal cast includes Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce and Jacob Elordi. Elordi, who recently played Elvis in Sophia Coppola’s Priscilla (2023) was brought in to replace Paul Mescal after a scheduling conflict saw the Gladiator II star drop out.
The film is an adaptation of the post-apocalyptic novel by Peter Heller, published in Italy with the title Le stelle del cane, and set in Colorado. The plot centers on a virus that wipes out most of humanity, save a small group who are confronted by roaming scavengers called Reapers. Elordi plays Hig, a pilot who survives the flu but loses his wife.
Produced by 20th Century Fox, the film is being shot on a 100-million-dollar budget in various Italian locations, including the shores of Lake Bordano in Friuli and the mountains of Abruzzo. The production will last for a total of nine weeks, ending in Rome’s Cinecittà, and employing over 400 Italian professionals. All very impressive, but secondary to the fact that Scott is pushing 90 and still moving at break-neck speed. That’s its own story.
In the pics: the cast of “The dog stars” and the cover of Peter Heller’s novel
Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix
