As "Gladiator II" heads toward its highly anticipated release, Ridley Scott and Paul Mescal are wasting no time lining up their next collaboration.

The duo will team up once again for ‘The Dog Stars,’ an apocalyptic thriller set to be directed by Scott for 20th Century Studios, with Mescal nabbing the lead role.

The project will bring together an impressive team, with Scott working alongside 20th Century’s Steve Asbell to bring Mark L. Smith’s screenplay adaptation of Peter Heller’s bestselling novel to life. The film will also be produced by Smith, Cliff Roberts, and Scott’s own production company, Scott Free.

‘The Dog Stars’ is set in a hauntingly desolate future where an unnamed pandemic has torn apart American society. Mescal is poised to play a civilian pilot who lives in isolation at a deserted airbase in Colorado with only his loyal dog and a hardened ex-Marine for company. Though the two men couldn’t be more different, they rely on one another to survive against the constant threat of marauding invaders. Life in this post-apocalyptic world is bleak, but when a faint radio transmission crackles to life in the pilot’s 1956 Cessna, it stirs something long forgotten: hope. Driven by the possibility of a better future beyond their guarded perimeter, he risks everything by flying into the unknown, chasing the fragile signal.

Mescal, who stars as Lucius in Scott’s upcoming ‘Gladiator II,’ recently spoke highly of the legendary filmmaker during an interview with Variety at the movie’s Tokyo premiere.

“There’s no one like Ridley Scott when it comes to crafting a film that grips audiences from start to finish,” Mescal said, expressing his admiration for the director’s talent for creating both spectacle and emotional depth.

Scott, in turn, had equal praise for Mescal during an interview with The New York Times, highlighting the actor's intelligence and readiness for the challenge of large-scale filmmaking:

“Paul is sharp, and he’ll get over the scale of what I’m throwing him into quickly. When I brought him onto the ‘Gladiator II’ set in Malta, I told him, ‘This is all for you, this is all for me—let’s go make this thing together.’ And that was it. My job is to keep things light and keep us moving.”

As excitement builds for their first collaboration in ‘Gladiator II,’ the reunion of Scott and Mescal for ‘The Dog Stars’ promises to deliver yet another captivating journey into a world of survival, hope, and the enduring human spirit.

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