From Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla to Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi has become the auteurs’ leading man. The actor is learning a new trick from director Ridley Scott on The Dog Stars, in theaters August 28.

Below, he shares the lessons he learned on set, what it’s like having a dog as a co-star, and why his time on Euphoria will stick with him.

The Dog Stars combines heart-stopping action with devastating sadness. Is it ultimately a hopeful story, do you think?

That’s how Ridley describes the film. It’s one of the most hopeful films he’s made. My character is living through the apocalypse, with remnants of the world he used to know. So I do think it’s a hopeful story.

What’s something that you learned from Ridley Scott that you’ll carry with you in your career?

He shoots with up to 11 cameras at once, so he can shoot a five-page scene in 40 minutes, because he shoots all the coverage at once. So at the same time that you’re shooting your close-up—which unfortunately is when most people put in the hardest work—everyone’s shooting their close-ups, so everyone’s accountable to one another’s performance. It’s a high-stakes, wonderful thing. I don’t think anyone else in the world shoots that way. Of course, you should be giving everything you’ve got all the time anyway, but human nature takes us in other directions.

Which of his previous movies most made you want to work with him?

When I go back as far as I can in my memory—and I wouldn’t have known it was a Ridley Scott film at the time—but the cast that he found for Black Hawk Down was extraordinary. It’s a classic.

One of your co-stars is a beautiful Belgian Malinois. Do you consider yourself a dog person?

I love dogs. There was a female Malinois who was so talented. She got a lot of pleasure from hunting and biting, so she did a lot of the attack stuff. Then there was a male dog who was more cuddly, so we used him in those scenes. And then there was one day when we had a lot of Malinois puppies, which was wonderful. But the dogs were Italian, so all the commands were in Italian, which was pretty cool.

Your taste in directors is extraordinarily good—you’ve worked with some of the most original storytellers in film. Why is a great, risk-taking director so appealing to you?

I’ve been a big believer in the movies for as long as I can remember, so having the opportunity to work with these giants is a really special thing to me. I think true filmmakers put our lives onscreen: They bring us together and show us who we all are.

Speaking of incredible directors, as the face of Bleu de Chanel, you got to work with the legendary Alfonso Cuarón. How did he approach that shoot?

Alfonso is a master. It was a great joy to work with him in an ad format. He approached the ad like a film: We shot for nine days in China, with big sets and elaborate action pieces.

The Euphoria experience was, I imagine, a defining one for you in many ways. What did you learn from those years of playing Nate?

I learned a lot about the movies from Sam Levinson. He has a specific passion for cinema that I’m in awe of. He’s also a total original and will fight for his vision. I really appreciate that.

There are so many amazing stories being told on film and television these days, from the studios to streamers to ind!es. How do you decide what you’ll do next?

I just keep praying they’ll let me stay in the movies.

This story appears in the September 2026 issue of ELLE.