After 24 years of collaboration, Gladiator II cinematographer John Mathieson seemed to have slammed filmmaker Ridley Scott calling him impatient. He also criticised Ridley’s “lazy” approach to storytelling. Also read : 'Wicked,' 'Gladiator II' bring in $270.
2 million in global box office John Mathieson speaks up During an interview on The DocFix Documentary Storytelling Podcast, John criticised Ridley's filming process on Gladiator 2. He said, “It’s really lazy. It’s the CG [computer graphic] 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 [on Gladiator II], ‘Well, clean it up...
He is quite impatient so he likes to get as much as he can at once. It’s not very good for cinematography.” Talking about Ridley’s use of multiple cameras, John added, “He is quite impatient so he likes to get as much as he can at once.
It’s not very good for cinematography,” he explained, saying it means you “can only light from one angle. 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.
Having lots of cameras I don’t think has made the films any better...
It’s a bit rush, rush, rush. That’s changed in him. But that’s the way he wants to do it and I don’t like it and I don’t think many people do, but people love his films and he’s Ridley S.
