{"id":972,"date":"2024-12-03T19:42:36","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T19:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/?p=972"},"modified":"2024-12-03T21:10:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T21:10:09","slug":"gladiator-2-cinematographer-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/gladiator-2-cinematographer-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"How Cinematographer John Mathieson Evoked Pure Nihilism for \u2018Gladiator II\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A lot has changed in the 24 years since Ridley Scott\u2019s \u201cGladiator\u201d graced our screens, both in filmmaking technology and in the real world. This is readily apparent in \u201cGladiator II,\u201d the director\u2019s long-awaited sequel to his best picture\u2013winning sword-and-sandals epic. Cinematographer John Mathieson returns for the follow-up, using updated digital tools to tell a darker, more violent story that comments on the rise of modern authoritarianism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The film stars Paul Mescal as Lucius, the now-grown son of Maximus (Russell Crowe) and Lucilla (Connie Nielsen). Lucius is an enslaved warrior who has a bone to pick with the Roman elite. He teams up with Macrinus (Denzel Washington), a scheming arms dealer, to navigate the halls of power. While the original film captured the grandeur of Rome, the sequel takes an unflinching look at its darker side, presenting a ruthless, hedonistic version of the ancient city, where bloodthirsty corruption has reached a fever pitch.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This sense of gritty nihilism begins with the cinematography. Mathieson discusses his approach to crafting a sequel that feels in line with the original even as it blazes its own path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The depiction of the afterlife in \u201cGladiator II\u201d is a stark departure from the original\u2019s golden fields of wheat. Here, the world is drained of color and rendered in silvery tones. How did you decide on that look?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Ridley dug out pictures for reference. One was a surrealist photo by Bill Brandt of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artnet.com\/artists\/bill-brandt\/ear-in-landscape-Ix7G9nLpsCEdcjqtMUL7rg2\">ear on the beach<\/a>. And then there\u2019s Man Ray, who was a great point of reference, alongside Lee Miller, his muse and collaborator; they invented solarization [a process which inverts dark and light tones]. So what you see there is black and white. We got some black pebbles and wet them to make them blacker; then, guys came in and spray-painted them silver. Then we put down a mirrored floor to get reflections over the still water, and we used blue screen to put in this very moody, troubled sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-979 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/11\/Paul-Mescal-and-Pedro-Pascal-CRED-Aidan-Monaghan-GL2_07002R4-1024x576.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Paul Mescal as Lucius and Pedro Pascal as Marcus Acacius in \u201cGladiator II\u201d (Paramount Pictures)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>This is a fiery film, both in terms of the performances and lighting. How did you approach that as a cinematographer?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, nothing\u2019s actually lit by flame. You <em>can<\/em> do that, but the trouble is that it comes out very, very red or orange, photographically. So what you do is you hide [the firelight with] other sources around it; you light the flames. If you look at a flame, it will look quite white, so we hid lights in and around the edges, sometimes even putting them at the base of the fire itself. They\u2019re usually just little things like domestic bulbs, and then we put them through a dimming pattern. We put them low down and shoot them across the actors\u2019 faces. We make them dance a bit, which flame doesn\u2019t actually do; it\u2019s much stiller than people think it is. But it just looks better if you make it dance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>It\u2019s been more than two decades since the release of \u201cGladiator.\u201d How did you maintain a sense of visual continuity while also updating the look of the world?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a lot more scary characters around us in \u201cGladiator II.\u201d Corruption is rife; it really feels like the fall of Rome. So I lit it kind of decadently\u2014really over-the-top\u2014[to create] a faux-Vegas look, with a huge amount of wealth and gaudiness. You can imagine a few dictators\u2019 palaces looking like that inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously, we shot on digital [this time instead of film], and that\u2019s different, but not really at its core. We knew we had to continue this story, but maybe it\u2019s not so down and earthy. In Maximus\u2019 story, you travel [alongside] him through the war to being captured and living in North Africa to going to Rome. But really, he\u2019s always a prisoner. \u201cGladiator II\u201d [takes place] a lot more in the palaces where treacherous meetings are going on. And Denzel is just this brilliant, demonic character, but you\u2019re rooting for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fights in the Colosseum are more over-the-top: the water, the colors, the smoke, all the people drinking wine. It\u2019s very gaudy, and it\u2019s great fun. It looks great, all the color and vibrancy, which we didn\u2019t really have so much in the first one. But that\u2019s not really me; that\u2019s actually the art direction. People think it\u2019s the camera, but it\u2019s what you put in front of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>This interview originally appeared on <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.backstage.com\/magazine\/\"><strong><em><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">Backstage<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em> and has been edited for clarity and length.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The original eye behind the lens returns, using digital tools to deliver a darker, more violent side of the ancient world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - 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