‘The Dog Stars’ Director Ridley Scott Responds to His Former Cinematographer’s Blunt Criticism

Ridley Scott has built his reputation as much on his visual instincts as on the sheer volume of work he’s produced across nearly five decades of filmmaking. At 87 years old, he shows no signs of slowing that pace, currently promoting ‘The Dog Stars’ while simultaneously juggling several other projects already written and ready to go.

That relentless output has long been tied to a very specific, often-debated production choice: Scott’s preference for shooting with anywhere from four to eleven cameras running simultaneously on set. He’s defended the approach for years, explaining in past interviews that the technique lets him capture a scene multiple times without forcing actors to repeat the same performance over and over, calling it a way to keep every take feeling fresh rather than rehearsed.

Not everyone in his orbit has agreed with that philosophy. John Mathieson, Scott’s longtime cinematographer on films including ‘Gladiator,’ ‘Hannibal,’ and ‘Kingdom of Heaven,’ criticized Scott’s use of multiple cameras on ‘Gladiator II’ in a 2024 podcast appearance, calling the approach “really lazy” and saying it left him unable to properly light scenes from more than one angle. Mathieson has not worked with Scott since.

Scott has now directly responded to that characterization. “Stupidest thing he could possibly have said,” Scott said, according to a video clip circulating online. “Because I’m using multi-camera I’m lazy? You’ve got to know where to put them. I’m blessed with a very good eye.”

That response lines up closely with how Scott has defended the technique for years. Speaking to Film Stories, he explained his reasoning plainly: “I always use 11 cameras. Four to 11 cameras. So you schedule for the day, but you’re done by 11 o’clock. And the actors say, ‘Goddamn, we did 40 set-ups this morning.’ And they’re thrilled to bits with themselves.” According to Scott, the approach isn’t about cutting corners, but about maximizing efficiency without sacrificing performance quality.

The fallout from Mathieson’s comments proved lasting. When Scott needed a cinematographer for ‘The Dog Stars,’ he turned instead to Erik Messerschmidt, known for his work on ‘Mindhunter,’ who reportedly embraced the same eight-camera setup without complaint. Scott has since praised the collaboration, saying the shoot felt smooth and that Messerschmidt seemed to genuinely enjoy the fast-paced process.

Mathieson later attempted to walk back his original comments, telling Deadline that his remarks had been taken out of context from a much longer interview about the broader industry’s reliance on digital tools, rather than a direct attack on Scott specifically. Despite that clarification, Scott has made clear in later interviews that the relationship has not recovered, joking that Mathieson’s comments were so surprising he simply decided their working relationship was over.

Scott’s actors have generally responded far more favorably to the method than Mathieson did. ‘The Dog Stars’ star Jacob Elordi described the experience to Collider as oddly liberating, saying, “There’s something liberating in you having to submit to his process. You just have to dive in, and you have to trust him.” That sentiment echoes comments from past collaborators, including Adam Driver, who reportedly told Scott he appreciated the freedom the multi-camera approach gave his performances on ‘The Last Duel.’

With ‘The Dog Stars’ now in theaters and Scott showing no interest in changing his process anytime soon, this latest exchange adds one more chapter to a technique that’s clearly split opinion among the people who’ve actually worked alongside him, even as Scott himself remains fully convinced it’s the right way to make a movie.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!