Italy became post-apocalyptic Colorado: The filming locations of Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars
The Dog Stars
The story is set in Colorado after a global pandemic has wiped out most of humanity. A lone pilot named Hig lives in an airport hangar with his dog and a dour survivalist named Bangley, until a mysterious radio signal pulls him back into the world. For Ridley Scott, building that desolate Colorado landscape meant going to Friuli, Veneto, Abruzzo and Rome — nine weeks across Italy.
The locations were chosen after extensive scouting by Scott himself in the weeks preceding the start of production. Principal photography ran from April 29 to late June 2025. The $110 million production is shot by Erik Messerschmidt, with music by Harry Gregson-Williams. Jacob Elordi stars as Hig — replacing Paul Mescal, who exited due to scheduling conflicts with the Sam Mendes Beatles films — alongside Josh Brolin as Bangley, Margaret Qualley, Allison Janney, Benedict Wong and Guy Pearce.
Filming began on April 29, 2025, on the shores of Lake Bordano in Friuli — a small municipality in the Province of Udine in northeastern Italy, just kilometres from the border with Veneto. Lake Bordano's forested shoreline and the surrounding rugged terrain provided the first chapter of the post-apocalyptic landscape.
From May 12 to 16, the production moved to the Cansiglio plateau in the Belluno Prealps — one of the most visually distinctive high forest landscapes in northeastern Italy. Scott chose multiple specific locations across the plateau: Polcenigo, the Cansiglio forest itself, Vallorch, the Cimbrian villages, Le Rotte and La Genzianella.
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The production then moved to Abruzzo — the mountainous central Italian region whose limestone landscapes are geologically and visually similar to the Colorado Rockies. Filming took place at the Parchi dell'Aquila Airport in Preturo — the general aviation airfield near L'Aquila that provided the film's central location: the airport hangar where Hig and Bangley have built their post-apocalyptic homestead. The Sirente Velino Regional Park, specifically the areas around Secinaro and Ovindoli, provided the open mountain terrain surrounding the homestead — its high plateaus, limestone ridgelines and wide sky giving Hig's world its scale and desolation.
Later in May, filming moved to Avezzano in the province of L'Aquila, with the area's mountain environments contributing further to the Colorado landscape the production was assembling across multiple Italian regions.
In June, the production relocated to Rome for its most spectacular urban sequences. Filming concentrated in Kennedy Square in the EUR district — the planned Fascist-era neighbourhood of wide boulevards and monumental rationalist architecture in Rome's southern suburbs — where the urban landscape was completely transformed into a post-apocalyptic battlefield. Destroyed helicopters, smashed cars, dilapidated buildings and downed aircraft recreated a world devastated by catastrophe. The Congress Palace formed the backdrop. The overall effect was that of a real war zone — an alienating image for EUR residents who woke on Sunday June 22, 2025 to find a scenic devastation in front of them.
Filming also took place in Casal Bernocchi, a working-class neighbourhood in Rome's western suburbs, and at Cinecittà Studios — the legendary Roman facility where Scott has worked before — for interior sequences and controlled environment scenes.
Production concluded at the end of June 2025 after a further month of filming in the natural landscape of Bosco Macchia Grande near Manziana, northwest of Rome — its dense woodland and isolated character providing the final chapter of the Italian landscape shoot.
Scenes for the film were also shot at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire — the English studio facility providing additional controlled environment work after the Italian location shoot concluded.
The Dog Stars opens exclusively in theatres on August 28, 2026.
SOURCE
Messaggero Veneto // Il Centro // Sky TG24 // IMDb
CREDITS
© 20th Century Studios, Scott Free Productions
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