Ridley Scott is no doubt one of the most venerable directors in Hollywood with a long and grand portfolio. However, according to some of his closest co-workers in his most recent film, Gladiator 2, the director might be losing his touch. This statement came directly from Scott’s cinematographer in Gladiator 2, and he has some sizzling takes about the director and the film.
The cinematographer in question is none other than John Mathieson. He’s only Ridley Scott’s award-winning and long-time cinematographer and just about as acclaimed as the director himself. That didn’t prevent him from voicing out his woes about how Scott handled Gladiator 2.
“It’s really lazy … 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. And they just said, ‘Well, clean it up,'” claimed Mathieson.
He also added that “Look at his older films and getting depth into things was very much part of lighting. You can’t do that with a lot of cameras but he just wants to get it all done.”
Mathieson then criticized Ridley Scott as “quite impatient” and said that he likes to get as much as he can all at once, especially when it comes to cameras. Apparently, Scott’s impatience has not led to better movies, and even our own consensus on Gladiator 2 somewhat agrees with Mathieson’s take on the director.
It’s worth noting that John Mathieson was nominated for an Oscar thanks to his stellar cinematography for the first Gladiator film, also directed by Ridley Scott. He also recalls how Scott had more trust in him back then and let him “cook” up something instead of asking him to clean up the scenes.
John Mathieson still admitted that there’s not that much difference in his process between the original Gladiator and the belated sequel despite having a 24-year gap.
Ridley Scott’s Not Deterred, It Seems
Ridley Scott, despite being 87 years old already, doesn’t seem to have any plans to stop. He currently has eight projects in development after Gladiator 2 with the next one being The Dog Stars starring Paul Mescal, whom he also worked with in the previous film.
Even Gladiator 2 has an upcoming sequel, Gladiator 3, and is among Scott’s aforementioned eight upcoming projects.
Meanwhile, Gladiator 2 is something Hollywood can consider a box office disappointment since the budget has exceeded the returns well. Estimates for the film’s budget go as high as $310 million, but the film only earned $232.7 million at the box office.
Gladiator 2‘s flop is not too far off from the performance of Scott’s previous film, 2023’s Napoleon. The French general biopic, starring Joaquin Phoenix, had an estimated budget of $200 million and only grossed $221.4 million at the box office.
