After some confusion, Ridley Scott confirmed he’ll make his sci-fi pic “The Dog Stars“ (now starring Jacob Elordi instead of Paul Mescal) ahead of his Bee Gees biopic. And if Scott gets his way, he’ll shoot both projects this year. But why will fans of the disco-era supergroup need to wait a bit longer for that film to reach theaters?
READ MORE: Ridley Scott Wants To Make 2 Films This Year
IndieWire (via GQ) has the scoop there, and it comes down to dilly-dallying on the part of Paramount. “The deal — the studio changed the goalposts,” Scott told the outlet about the upcoming film. “I said, ‘You can’t do that.’ They insisted. I said, ‘Well, I’m going to warn you, I will walk, because I will go on to the next movie.’ They didn’t believe me, and I did.”
That story comes as a surprise, especially since Paramount was the studio who backed Scott’s latest opus, “Gladiator II.” But Scott wanted to start work on a new project as soon as possible, and he wouldn’t wait to agree to terms with Paramount. “I was being asked to go too far, and I said, ‘No. Next!’” continued Scott. “They didn’t like my deal. So I said, ‘I’ll move on.’ I’m expensive, but I’m f*cking good.”
And it makes sense Scott wouldn’t wait for him and the studio to finalize a deal. The director, now 87, may not have many projects left him (and that’s also why he wants to shoot both “The Dog Stars” and the Bee Gees film this year). So Paramount will have to wait to capitalize on the box office success of “Gladiator II” (one of Scott’s highest-grossing films) until after “The Dog Stars” wraps its shooting schedule, set to start in April. If Scott breezes through that project, he’ll then shoot his Bee Gees movie in September, with both films potentially reaching theater audiences in 2026.
But is there any bad blood between Scott and Paramount for the Bee Gees pic delay? None at all: the studio understands that the director wants to continue the torrid working schedule he’s kept over the past half-decade (which may end up being six films in five years!). And with Scott already taking a stab at a “Gladiator 3” script, he may not slow down for another couple of years at least.