Gladiator II
Posted on Jan 9, 2025 by Admin
Epic cuts and ancient glory
John Mathieson, BSC shares how he & Ridley Scott brought ancient Rome roaring back to life in Gladiator II
Words Trevor Hogg Images 2024 Paramount Pictures
When John Mathieson, BSC stepped back onto the grand stage of ancient Rome to shootvGladiator II, he was met with a unique challenge: seamlessly blending the iconic visuals of Gladiator, captured over 20 years ago, with fresh scenes of Maximus’s descendants clashing in the Colosseum.
“Ridley Scott wanted to use some unused footage,” recalls Mathieson. “This was continuing the story of Lucius and Lucilla – and there are flashbacks as Lucius tries to figure out who he is.
“But then Ridley said, ‘I’m going to use some other stuff’. For him to want to cut this footage, shot on Super 35 – a small image that’s two-thirds the size of a British postage stamp – together with a large format, modern digital camera was a surprise.” But image resolution was not a problem. “In the DI, I went right up to the screen with my eyes and tried to see the grain. I could see the structure of it and it was different, but you wouldn’t know. You’d have to tap other DOPs on the shoulder and tell them when the old shots were coming up.”
Another twist in production was that the Roman fleet’s assault on a coastal Numidian fort wasn’t filmed on a new set at all – instead, they transformed the Kingdom of Heaven Jerusalem set to pull it off. And while the Colosseum naval battle may look like a dramatic clash on water, it was actually shot ‘dry for dry’, with just a few water tank scenes.
“Neil Corbould [special effects supervisor] brought in these incredible self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) capable of lifting and moving massive objects like ships or even oil rigs,” Mathieson explains. “It’s a modular system you can assemble to manoeuvre with extreme precision. That allowed us to turn the ships on a tight line – something impossible on water, where you’d need tracks and a monorail system to stabilise them against the wind.”
One day, an SPMT accidentally rolled over Mathieson’s track, which didn’t sit well with the grips, as its movements weren’t totally accurate. “Guys would walk alongside with remote controls, with arrows flying overhead. We knew that everything below a certain height would be ‘underwater’, allowing us to place our equipment more freely than if we’d been on water, where we’d have had to rig it on barges that might drift.”
Some water tank footage was captured later. “Luke Scott [second unit director] came in to handle the real water shots – guys falling in, splashing, drowning and even getting attacked by sharks,” Mathieson adds.
A cut sequence from the original movie revived for Gladiator II was the rhino battle in the Colosseum. “Ridley likes rhinos, while I like frogs!” laughs Mathieson. “The rhino fight had been lurking around since the first Gladiator; I thought it was going to be CGI, but Neil actually built the rhino.”
He continues: “It didn’t have legs but warred around the Colosseum throwing up dust – it was angry and smashed things over. I’d filmed rhinos for natural history in the past, but not as big as this one! The rule is to stay out of the way. The rhino being real was important for everyone. Even though you understand CGI, when you actually have something that’s physically there, people are a lot more engaged.”
At times, the production deployed up to 12 cameras on-set. “With digital cameras, you can use more of them and they’re easier to operate, so why not?” Mathieson points out. “It’s the way to go for big set pieces with lots of people and multiple actions happening at once. You don’t want to rely on pickups or little bits and pieces because those can miss the background details – the explosions, the horses charging past.
“If you can get it all at the same time, the melee might not be as refined, but it has the right feeling and energy.”
Not every camera rolls at the same time, though. “Sometimes, you set up and things change. Suddenly, camera A becomes an extra camera. I usually keep a few cameras nearby because I can spot where the action is flowing and position them to capture it. Ridley might then say, ‘I like that angle more’, and those cameras become the main ones.”
The primary camera was the ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. “We had a dozen Mini LFs and some larger LFs. We also used the Z CAM, which were like our GoPros. They are about twice the size of a pack of cigarettes and take Leica M 0.8 lenses, which are two inches in diameter and 2.5 inches long. Even in carriages, a Mini LF is quite a large camera, so we stuffed these into them,” elaborates Mathieson.
DJI Inspire 3 drones gave the team flexibility on the shoot. “They’re not full-frame, don’t shoot Scope or full format, but my god they are very good,” he enthuses. “The drones can handle heavy winds and sit absolutely rock steady.”
To capture the intensity of the setting, Mathieson opted for a deeper focus, steering clear of a shallow depth-of-field. “I wanted hard contrast and lots of focus. Some people love reducing depth, but why do that? It’s not how the world really looks. With all the texture, vibrancy and movement around, you don’t want a super-soft background – you want it slightly out of focus but still visible.”
A shallow depth-of-field was avoided. “I wanted hard contrast and ample focus. A lot of camera people like to reduce the depth and I think, ‘why do that?’.
On the glass front, the team favoured zoom lenses, with Mathieson relying on the Angénieux Optimo Ultra 12:1, which range from 36mm on the wide end to 435mm on the telephoto end. “With so many cameras, it’s tough to get close to every angle, so zooms are king,” he comments. “They’re harder to light for, slower and not as sharp, but they give you a wealth of options to work with.”
Generally, Mathieson leaned toward tungsten over LEDs: big HMIs and Wendy Lights especially. “LED light is soft but unkind; it travels in straight lines and picks up every pore and wrinkle in the face. Yes, LEDs are cold and don’t set fire to things but lack sophistication. What you see and get are different things,” he notes.
Elaborate shots aren’t Ridley Scott’s style. “He’s more about the cuts,” states Mathieson. “He doesn’t design each shot from head to toe. Ridley knows where the cuts are as he sees them.”
Every shot had to count. “You should write alongside the camera, story and character. Everything else, forget it.” The crew quickly found their rhythm. “It wasn’t like I’d never left but it still felt familiar.”
One standout sequence is the Colosseum naval battle. “We’d film the top half of the frame, then the bottom half with the water and they blended beautifully. The colours are what really made it shine – the shimmering water, the Roman senators, rich emblems, wine, tapestries, grapes, gold, smoke – all that lavishness. It’s a real visual feast.”
Check out our article covering the grading processes used in the film here.
