The famously blunt director Ridley Scott has offered some of his first comments on his forthcoming film The Dog Stars, due for release in a little over a month, and appeared to rate it above much of his recent output — including Gladiator II. In a self-deprecating mood, Scott waved away more than a decade of his own work while promoting the new picture, reportedly regarding it as his best since 2015's The Martian, and also praised its young star Jacob Elordi, saying the actor has a bright future ahead of him.

The Dog Stars is adapted from Peter Heller's novel of the same name and is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which a former pilot lives with his dog, with Elordi in the lead alongside Josh Brolin and Margaret Qualley. Scott made the remarks to liquor trade outlet The Buyer, in an interview chiefly about his wine business. Co-star Brolin, who had worked with Scott two decades earlier, told Empire he nearly quit after a single day, struggling to adjust to the director's changed methods — now shooting with multiple cameras running simultaneously and little to no rehearsal. Scott is in a highly prolific phase but seems unimpressed with most of what he has made in the past ten years.