?The Dog Stars’ Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley

Ridley Scott is well known for his singular approach to filmmaking. The Alien and Gladiator director runs his sets on a strict schedule , often getting only one or two takes before moving on, and capturing full coverage with upwards of eight cameras rolling at once.

For The Dog Stars leads, Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley , this whirlwind method was a challenging exercise in letting go.

“There's something liberating in you having to submit to his process.” Elordi tells Collider’s Steve Weintraub . “You just have to dive in, and you have to trust him.” The Dog Stars is Scott’s first return to sci-fi in nearly a decade , based on Peter Heller ’s bestselling novel, about a virus that brings society to the brink of collapse.

For related coverage, explore our detailed analysis on Technology and Digital Systems.

Key Analysis and Detailed Timeline

In this post-apocalyptic world, a young pilot, Hig (Elordi), partners with Bangley ( Josh Brolin ), a military survivalist, to build a homestead protected from the brutal kill-or-be-killed survivors. But when Hig receives a mysterious transmission, he sets out into the unknown in search of a hope he can’t give up on, where his path converges with another survivor, Cima (Qualley).

The film also stars Guy Pearce , Benedict Wong , and Allison Janney . In addition to discussing their experiences working with Scott, including a hilarious story from set and how they were able to contribute to the film beyond their performances, Elordi and Qualley also share highlights from each other’s careers and tease their upcoming projects with Ari Aster , Smile writer-director Parker Finn , and more.

COLLIDER: Besides The Dog Stars , if someone has never seen Jacob's work, what's the first thing that they should watch? And if someone hasn't seen Margaret's work, what's the first thing they should watch and why? MARGARET QUALLEY: [Whispers to Elordi] The Narrow Road to the Deep North .

Broader Impact and Sector Outlook

JACOB ELORDI: [Whispers to Qualley] The first moment that I fell in love with Margaret on screen was in Once Upon a Time [ in Hollywood ], for sure. When you're spinning around that bench, and you get picked up, just one of the greatest entrances for a character, really. You're so alive in that movie.

But honestly, you can't go wrong with a Margaret Qualley movie. QUALLEY: You can't go wrong with a Jacob movie. Watch them all.

That’s a totally valid answer. I love watching end-of-the-world stories in movies and TV. What do you think it is about end-of-the-world stories that resonates with so many people?

ELORDI: I wonder if it's like that Netflix murder documentary thing. It's the reality that's not yours, but it could be. It's not satisfying to watch it happen to other people, but it's helpful to keep it in your back pocket to know that it's possible, or something.

Like looking your fear in the face or something like that. QUALLEY: Maybe also just sometimes, doesn't it feel like it's the end of the world out there? Oh, right now it very much does.

QUALLEY: So maybe it's that we're just like, “What are we going to do?” The series comes from the director of 'Assassin's Creed.' Switching to being more optimistic, I would imagine both of you have heard stories about Ridley, but what was it actually like on the first day or two when you're experiencing him filming with so many cameras and doing a take or two and being like, “We got it.

Let's move on?” ELORDI: [Laughs] Yeah, we definitely experienced that a couple times. I'll never forget one. We were doing this scene, and we were like, “Can we get one more?” and the first AD just pointed to the trailer out of the set, and his Ridley's Maybach was leaving.

[Laughs] And we were like, “I guess not. I guess not one more.” But there's something liberating in you having to submit to his process. You have to let go.

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The multi-camera thing is really interesting because everyone's on that close-up at the same time. No one should be doing this when you make a movie, but a lot of people do: When it's someone else's close-up, they sort of go 50 or 60% in the scene, but because everyone's performance is on the line, everyone's giving it 110% because you know you’ve only got three or four takes to get the thing with Ridley shooting.

So you end up meeting the challenge, and you start to get addicted to that process because you can't overthink. You just have to dive in, and you have to trust him.

QUALLEY: So much of my job in both my life and my literal job is reckoning with the fact that we don't have control, and trying to surrender to that, and I think that this was a kind of heightened experience of that.

What is it like as an actor knowing that he's going to get it really fast? I know maybe on a different set, you would have more time to do a scene, so how does it affect your preparation the night before you're going to film something?

Do you find yourself spending more time thinking about the scene and how you want to play it, knowing that it's going to be pretty quick?

QUALLEY: I always kind of prep a lot just to soothe myself, you know? It can't hurt. So, I don't know that I prepped any more than I usually would, but I think certainly there's something interesting about what you do the first time, and that's what this movie is.

ELORDI: Yeah, a lot of it is the first or second take. One of the things about the film is when it ended, for me, I really took away “be grateful for what you have.” For both of you, what was it like seeing the finished film, and what did you take away from what Ridley accomplished and what you guys accomplished?

ELORDI: Actually, one thing that was really nice to see is Margaret and I spent a lot of time on the weekend sort of reworking the script and trying to personalize it and build it from the sort of blueprint that it was, and a lot of the things that we had just over lunch talked about, and lines of dialogue and little personal things, they kind of all made it into the finished film.

So, that was a really nice thing to see. You're watching a Ridley Scott film and dialogue that you've written is coming back to you on screen.

That was probably the takeaway for me that I loved the most: to see that you weren't just being dickie actors, like, “No, I think it should be like this.” To actually have it be applicable and useful in the film was a really nice feeling, especially with a great director who you just kind of lay at the feet of anyway and do whatever they say.

To have him accept our offers and use them in his storytelling was a pretty moving thing. I know you must be offered a number of scripts. What are you both getting ready to do later this year?

QUALLEY: Right now, I'm working with Parker Finn, who I love, and we're remaking Possession , which is very nutso. I'll be flying home right after this to go do that.

ELORDI: I'm going to go do Ari Aster’s next-next film, and then I'm going to go do this movie with László Nemes, who did Son of Saul , which I'm super excited about.

We're doing Outer Dark , the Cormac McCarthy novel. I’m super excited. The Dog Stars opens in theaters and IMAX on August 28.