It looks like Ridley Scott‘s post-apocalyptic thriller The Dog Stars won’t be a Gladiator II reunion, after all. Due to scheduling issues, Paul Mescal is departing the film, and Jacob Elordi is being courted to replace him. Variety reports that Elordi is in early negotiations to star in the film.
The Dog Stars is based on a 2012 novel by Peter Heller; it was to star Mescal as Hig, a pilot surviving in a future Earth ravaged by disease. With his only friends, a dog and a dour gunfighter, he has to face off against a ruthless band of scavengers known as the Reapers. While Mescal was announced as the star when news of the film first broke in November, the in-demand Irish actor’s schedule dictated his departure from the film; instead, he will appear in Sam Mendes‘ planned Beatles quadrilogy of films, where he is rumored to be playing Paul McCartney. Scott himself has his own musical biopic in the works, based on the career of disco legends The Bee Gees, which is expected to film before The Dog Stars. That may give Elordi time to finish his own commitments, as he is slated to film the much-delayed third season of Euphoria this year, as well as Emerald Fennell‘s adaptation of Wuthering Heights.
Who Is Jacob Elordi?
Towering Australian heartthrob Elordi broke out as Noah Flynn in Netfix‘s teenage romantic comedy The Kissing Booth; he reprised the role in two subsequent sequels. Despairing over the objectification he endured in those films, his next role was of a more mature nature: narcissistic jock Nate Jacobs on HBO‘s Euphoria. That series’ success and critical acclaim led to a variety of films for Elordi; Adrian Lyne‘s erotic thriller Deep Water; the surreal road trip The Sweet East; Sofia Coppola‘s Priscilla, in which he played Elvis Presley; and Emerald Fennell‘s blackly comedic Saltburn. Last year, he starred in Paul Schrader‘s Oh, Canada, as Richard Gere‘s younger self, and the drama On Swift Horses, which he also executive produced. He can next be seen as Frankenstein’s monster in Guillermo del Toro‘s upcoming remake of Frankenstein, and in the Australian miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
The Dog Stars will be written by Mark L. Smith (Twisters) and Christopher Wilkinson (Gemini Man). It will be released by 20th Century Pictures.
The Dog Stars, which will now star Jacob Elordi instead of Paul Mescal, has yet to set a release date.
via Collider