John Mathieson takes aim at Ridley Scott following 'Gladiator II' release

John Mathieson, a long-time cinematographer for both Gladiator movies, has criticised Ridley Scott for his filmmaking habits.

On The DocFix podcast, Mathieson called Scott’s habit of leaving mistakes in shots to be fixed later in post-production “lazy.”

He said, “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 [boom mics]. And they just said [on Gladiator 2], ‘Well, clean it up.'"

The 63-year-old cinematographer went on to call the director of Gladiator II “impatient” for trying to get “as much as he can” with a multi-camera setup.

“Having lots of cameras I don’t think has made the films any better,” Mathieson articulated.

He added by saying, “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 Scott and can do what he wants,” Mathieson concluded.

For the unacquainted, Gladiator II, starring Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Denzel Washington, and Paul Mescal, is a sequel to Scott's 2000 classic.

It is pertinent to mention that the recently released movie Gladiator II has raked in over $300 million worldwide.