Ridley Scott accused of being “lazy” by ‘Gladiator II’ cinematographer

Posted On November 28, 2024November 28, 2024

John Mathieson, the cinematographer for Gladiator II, recently accused Ridley Scott of adopting a “lazy” approach to filmmaking for the blockbuster sequel, claiming that he exhibited signs of lacking crucial attention to detail.

Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal as Lucius, who has to enter the Colosseum to fight for the glory of Rome and its people after witnessing the death of Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Commodus. Upon its release, it grossed over $221 million overseas, which has made it a mammoth success.

However, discussing his experience working with Scott on the film, Mathieson, who also contributed the original 2000 film, said that the filmmaker’s method had “changed” and become more “rushed.” He also claimed that Scott neglected to pay attention to small objects in the shot, like shadows, cameras, and microphones.

“It’s really lazy,” he told The DocFix Documentary Storytelling Podcast, adding, “It’s the CG elements now of tidying-up, leaving things in shot, cameras in shot, microphones in shot, bits of set hanging down, shadows from booms.”

When the issues were raised, he said that the team’s response was that they would “clean it up” in post-production editing. According to Mathieson, the difficulties stem from Scott’s desire to “get as much as he can at once” with multiple cameras. This wasn’t useful to Mathieson, who said that it meant that he could “only light from one angle.”

Aside from the obvious challenges, Mathieson also said that his attitude on set made it difficult to add emotional depth with lighting in the shots, which is a defining feature of many of his previous films. “Look at his older films, and getting depth into things was very much part of lighting,” he said. “You can’t do that with a lot of cameras, but he just wants to get it all done.”

What is Ridley Scott’s usual filmmaking style?

There are many reasons why Gladiator II might not receive long-term praise, the least of which is that it was released on the same day as Jon M. Chu’s highly-awaited Wicked.

In the past, Scott’s movies have been lauded for their meticulous attention to detail, not just in terms of lighting and aesthetic, but with how he often toys with darkness and shadows to create grand cinematic atmospheres.

He also has a knack for manipulating different historical events to suit his storytelling versatility, like Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven, and isn’t afraid of going big with traditionally difficult realms, like the sci-fi and fantasy elements of the Alien series.

Known for his visual sophistication, it’s unusual that he relaxed his usual diligence during the making of Gladiator II, resulting in moments of inconsistency that haven’t gone amiss among critics and fans alike.

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