The Dog Stars director Sir Ridley Scott explains the importance of a film script

Sir Ridley Scott thinks a script is the most important aspect of any film.

The 88-year-old director - who has adapted Peter Heller’s 2012 novel The Dog Stars, focusing on preserving the story’s core elements - believes a film's script is more important than anything else.

Speaking to People, Ridley explained: "It’s all about what’s on paper before you begin.

"If you’ve got a film on paper, then fundamentally, that’s it. That’s the most important, significant thing you can have."

Ridley quickly realised that he wanted to direct The Dog Stars adaptation.

He said: "I can tell within a page or two, I’m in good hands. You kind of know. It’s the beat, the rhythm, the name he calls the people."

Ridley also faces a challenge to balance the world he creates for his films and the intimacy of the story.

The acclaimed director said: "The end of the world would be the universe of a tin can called a spaceship. And the universe on that ship is seven people. The one person you don’t realise is a company person is also an AI. And worse, they land on another world and encounter a border monster. So that’s one kind of universe, right?"

The Dog Stars focuses on a former civilian pilot, and a hardened former Marine in a post-pandemic world, as they seek to create a better life for themselves beyond where they live.

He said: "All I felt was looking at the logic of it all. There inevitably will be [consequences], were this to occur and God forbid, it shouldn’t."

Meanwhile, Ridley previously suggested that he's become a better filmmaker as he's aged.

The director - whose previous credits include Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, and Black Hawk Down - told the Guardian newspaper in 2025: "What happens – providing you sustain all your marbles – is that you refine your game. I can now work eight to 11 cameras.

"I finished my latest film in 34 days. It would normally be 60. Gladiator was 48; normally, 100. I’ve learned to formulate and predetermine, plan on paper and storyboard in my head. That’s why it’s so efficient.

"My game was tennis. I’ve just had my final knee replacement. I did one in 2012 and the other last week. So that’s the end of tennis. But like any game, the more you practise, the better you get. Forty years of tennis, I became quite good. If I hadn’t played tennis, I’d be a 300lb [136kg] couch potato."