Ridley Scott wanted to tell the story of “Gladiator 2” with as many cameras as possible, according to actor Joseph Quinn.
The “Stranger Things” star told GQ that Scott would film with eight cameras at once for even just a single scene. Scott would then piece together the desired shots.
“I was like, ‘Eight cameras?’ and he’s like ‘You gotta know where to fucking put ’em,’” Quinn said. “Clearly he does. Watching that puzzle, watching him harness all those pieces and put them together was fascinating, truly.”
“Gladiator 2” stars Paul Mescal as Lucius, the nephew of since-deceased Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) who was killed by Russell Crowe’s Maximus. Lucius is the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and grandson of Marcus Aurelius, and originally played by Spencer Treat Clark in the 2000 feature.
Quinn plays the new Caesar deciding the fate of the warriors, while Pedro Pascal is a general and Denzel Washington is a power broker. The sequel is set 20 years after the events of the Oscar-winning first film.
Yet Scott wanted to recreate the feature’s sets even two decades later. The production team rebuilt the set in Malta in the exact same spot where they shot the original film in 1999.
“The set of ‘Gladiator II’ is a wonder to bear witness to,” Quinn said. “You know that Rutger Hauer speech at the end of ‘Blade Runner’? ‘I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe,’ that’s what it felt like, just seeing it all. That’s what $300 million gets you.”
He added of the shots, “Ridley’s ambition, you see it in every frame. The film is reaching for something that is very much its own thing but also has reverence for the first film.”
Quinn credited Scott for balancing the big budget expectations from studio executives with his creative vision.
“Obviously, the more money that gets involved, the more grown-ups are involved, and the grown-ups want a return for their investment, very understandably,” Quinn said. “Whereas if you’re working on something that’s more intimate, there’s a kind of collective ownership among the artists involved. But sometimes something comes along where there’s more money involved, and there’s brilliant people involved. And hopefully, you can have both, I think, but it’s increasingly hard. Ridley wants both.”
And the set location isn’t the only aspect of the first “Gladiator” that is carrying through to the sequel: costume designer Janty Yates and production designer Arthur Max are returning. “Gladiator 2” is also a reunion between director Scott and his “Napoleon” screenwriter David Scarpa.
Much like on “Napoleon,” Scott has a multi-camera approach for “Gladiator 2.” The “Napoleon” cinematographer Sławomir Idziak and Scott both told IndieWire that their productions usually have a “minimum of four cameras.”
“It releases and frees up the actors,” Idziak said. “If mistakes occur, I never cut. I will keep running because a fortunate mistake can evolve into something magic.”
Scott added of Idziak, “He embraced multiple cameras with no complaints, and I love him for that. Forty-five minutes to an hour and a half and we’re moving. With four cameras every day, it’s four times faster. A scene scheduled to last all day will be finished at 11 o’clock.”
