The Dog Stars Filming Locations

Ridley Scott’s “The Dog Stars” imagines Colorado after civilization has largely disappeared. A devastating pandemic has killed most of the population, leaving pilot Hig, his dog Jasper and the heavily armed Bangley to protect an isolated airfield from anyone who gets too close. Hig still takes his aging Cessna into the sky, partly to scout for danger and partly because flying gives him a connection to the life he lost. A mysterious radio transmission eventually gives him a reason to travel farther than either man considers safe.

The landscapes may belong to Colorado in Peter Heller’s 2012 novel, but Scott created most of that ruined America thousands of miles away. “The Dog Stars” was filmed extensively across Italy, using Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Abruzzo and Rome to represent different parts of the American West. Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England, is also listed among the production locations. The Italian shoot ran for roughly nine weeks between April and June 2025.

Bordano Became Hig and Bangley’s Airport

Some of the movie’s most important filming took place around Bordano in the province of Udine, close to the Tagliamento River and the Julian Prealps. The production spent approximately three weeks in the area, turning its broad river landscape and mountain backdrop into pandemic-ravaged Colorado. Scott himself had visited during the location-scouting process before Bordano was selected.

The most significant transformation happened at the landing area operated by ASD Volo Libero Friuli. Production crews constructed hangars and a control tower there and prepared a runway for the Cessna used in the film. The site became the abandoned airport where Hig and Bangley maintain their unusual post-apocalyptic homestead.

That makes Bordano particularly interesting for anyone looking for the real location behind Hig’s home. What appears to be a forgotten Colorado airfield is actually a location near a small Friulian community dominated by Monte San Simeone. The nearby Tagliamento landscape helped sell the illusion of an enormous, largely empty America.

Cansiglio Forest Stands In for Colorado Wilderness

From Friuli, Scott moved into the Cansiglio plateau, an Alpine foothill landscape spanning parts of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. Filming there took place from May 12 to May 16, 2025. A Cessna was transported to the plateau along with a substantial production unit, and access to sections of the area was temporarily restricted during the shoot.

Locations associated with this part of production include Polcenigo, Cansiglio Forest, Vallorch, the Cimbrian villages, Le Rotte and La Genzianella. The combination of forests, meadows and mountains allowed Scott to create a much wider version of the Colorado wilderness without depending entirely on digital environments.

The Veneto Film Commission has since confirmed that a major Cessna sequence was among the material filmed in this region. Cansiglio therefore provides more than scenic background. Its landscape is tied directly to Hig’s dangerous flights beyond the relative protection of his home territory.

Abruzzo Provided Mountains, Roads and Another Airport

The production then moved south into Abruzzo, where the mountains around L’Aquila provided another convincing substitute for Colorado. Official production records identify Sirente-Velino Regional Park, Secinaro and Ovindoli among the principal locations. The Aeroporto dei Parchi in Preturo was also used during this stage of filming.

Avezzano became one of the more unusual sets. In May 2025, its industrial district was dressed as part of the abandoned post-pandemic world, with filming taking place around the area near Via Pertini. Local reporting documented Ridley Scott supervising scenes involving a small Cessna, while roads around the industrial zone were temporarily closed for production.

Abruzzo’s appeal is easy to understand on screen. The broad valleys, high mountains and relatively open terrain can resemble portions of the Rocky Mountain West when framed carefully. Scott could therefore move between Friuli, Veneto and Abruzzo while maintaining the impression that Hig was traveling through one continuous American landscape.

Rome’s EUR District Became a Destroyed American City

The natural landscapes were only half of the job. When “The Dog Stars” needed a larger urban environment, Scott turned to Rome’s EUR district, an area defined by broad avenues and monumental 20th-century architecture.

Filming centered around Via Cristoforo Colombo, Viale della Civilta del Lavoro, Viale dell’Arte and Via della Pittura. The normally orderly streets were filled with wrecked vehicles, burned vegetation and other signs of collapse. One of the production’s biggest set pieces involved a crashed helicopter positioned among the buildings, helping transform modern Rome into the remains of an American city.

The contrast works especially well because EUR already has an unusually controlled architectural character. Once buses, debris and damaged vehicles were introduced, those large empty spaces could look disturbingly abandoned rather than recognizably Roman.

Cinecitta Studios Was the Italian Production Base

Scott also returned to Cinecitta Studios in Rome, one of Europe’s best-known film-production complexes. The studio functioned as an important base for “The Dog Stars” while the company moved between locations around Italy. Interior work and material requiring greater control could be handled there while large exterior scenes were filmed around the country.

Using Cinecitta also gave a production of this scale access to sound stages, workshops, construction facilities and extensive backlot resources. That was valuable for a story in which ordinary infrastructure had to look as though it had been abandoned for years. Rather than finding every destroyed environment ready-made, the production could combine real Italian landscapes with purpose-built elements.

Was The Dog Stars Filmed at Pinewood Studios?

Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, is also listed as a filming location for “The Dog Stars.” Publicly available production information, however, is much more detailed about the Italian portion of the shoot than the work completed at Pinewood. It is therefore safer to identify Pinewood as an additional studio location without assigning specific scenes to it.

Some reports have connected the production to Pinewood’s Sean Connery Stage, but I have not found sufficiently strong primary documentation confirming that particular stage for the film. The studio itself has a large network of sound stages and production facilities, so controlled work there would fit naturally into a project of this size.

Italy Is the Hidden Colorado of The Dog Stars

Perhaps the most impressive trick in “The Dog Stars” is that no single Italian region has to resemble Colorado perfectly. Scott instead assembled his fictional America piece by piece. Bordano supplied the airfield and wide Tagliamento landscape, Cansiglio provided deep forest, Abruzzo supplied the mountains, and Rome became the destroyed urban world.

That approach also explains why the movie’s environment feels larger than one conventional location shoot. Hig’s Cessna carries him through apparently enormous stretches of a ruined United States, yet much of that geography was created by linking together places scattered across Italy. For viewers hunting down the real-world settings, “The Dog Stars” is ultimately as much an Italian road trip as it is a Colorado survival story.