The Dog Stars, Ridley Scott's post-pandemic thriller starring Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley and Josh Brolin, is set in 2035 along a mountain range south of Denver, with survivors of a deadly flu outbreak scraping by in an emptied world. It's a story built on wild, empty landscapes — and the twist for film-location spotters is that almost none of it was shot in North America. Canada was considered, but Italy won out on scale, logistics and sheer quality of locations. Production ran there between April and June 2025.
The film's most dramatic sets were built from scratch in Abruzzo, the rugged, mountainous region east of Rome. In the town of Avezzano, the crew trashed an entire petrol station for a sequence in which a plane literally lands in the street. Nearby, they dressed a swimming pool with overgrown vegetation and crocuses pushing through the wreckage — production designer Chris Seager calls it the film's visual statement about nature reclaiming everything.
The biggest build happened in Bordano, a small town in the foothills of the Julian Alps in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, better known to Italians as a hang-gliding spot. In five weeks, the team transformed an empty field into a full survivors' compound: nine airplane hangars, Bangley's house and watchtower, sheds, a trailer home, and a runway — all dressed to look long-abandoned. Seager says building on location, rather than on a soundstage, let the buildings, runway and landscape read as one convincing world.
Rome handled the urban apocalypse. Cinecittà Studios, Europe's largest film facility, hosted the Grand Junction Airport scenes on a soundstage built in just four weeks — cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt credits it as the country's most modern studio option, with experienced local crew on hand. Out in the city itself, the EUR district, famous for its monumental Fascist-era architecture, stood in for a Denver city hall triage centre. Shutting down a busy residential and business neighbourhood wasn't easy, but Messerschmidt calls it one of the most successful sections of the finished film.
For travellers, this is a handy reminder that Italy can convincingly play almost anywhere — and that some of its least-hyped regions are the ones Hollywood now banks on. Abruzzo offers the Gran Sasso and Maiella massifs, hill towns and national parks a couple of hours from Rome, at prices well below the Amalfi coast. Bordano sits near the turquoise Gemona area of Friuli, an easy detour if you're heading toward Slovenia or the Alps. And EUR's stark white architecture is free to walk around any day of the week — no apocalypse required.