Yahoo Lifestyle Ridley Scott’s Go-To Production Designer Arthur Max Wants Him to Do a ‘New York City-Based Gangster Movie’ Next
“Gladiator II” production designer Arthur Max is no stranger to working with costume designer Janty Yates. Over the years, they have worked on a dozen movies together, going all the way back to the first “Gladiator” film in 2004. It’s a partnership which Max affectionately calls “a serious level of collaboration.”
From “Kingdom of Heaven” to “Prometheus” to “Napoleon,” director Ridley Scott relies on his trusted department heads to build worlds and design costumes. This time, Yates and Max return to the arena to dress and design “Gladiator II,” starring Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger.
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After his town is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius (Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum and seeks to return to glory of Rome to the people.
As part of Max’s early process, he says he will often go to Yates’ trailer to see what she has on her walls. Other times, it’s a phone call.
“It’s quite organic,” Yates says. “We try to have a color palette meeting early, so we don’t have red gowns against red walls.”
Here, they talk about working with Scott, their approach to their craft and also share their genre hopes and dreams.
You’ve both said Ridley is a painter. Is that when it comes to working with him and being creative?
Janty Yates: He’s such a painter, and he’s educated me. I’ve come across painters I’d never come across before. But I had never come across Jean-Léon Gérôme until we did the first “Gladiator.” There’s a Gérôme painting with a gladiator-raised sword that was the essence of the movie.
Lawrence Alma-Tadema, the Dutch painter, was a huge influence on the first movie.
I’ve just learned so much from Ridley. I’m just the facilitator.
Arthur Max: Tadema has been borrowed from so many. He’s a big influence on the classical film industry. The egg juggler in the first film came from one of his paintings. So, we like to “borrow heavily” from this man.
What was it like getting that call from Ridley saying he was making the sequel?
Yates: We were on “Napoleon” when the rumor came out. David (Crossman), my co-costume designer and I looked at each other and said, “Ah-ha.”
Ridley asked David to do it as well. He took the entire military off my shoulders which was amazing. It left me to look at fabrics and trim.
Max: I had some misgivings about touching a masterpiece. But hats off to Ridley; he really pulled it off. It’s very hard to capture the magic of something that works so well. I just went with it. I thought if anybody is going to do it, it might as well be me.
How would you describe your shorthand with Ridley?
Yates: He’ll say, “You remember that other movie we did together? Do it like that one, or that person.” [laughs]
Max: He tells me to go and see Janty. But we don’t need to go into the excruciating levels of detail because having worked together for so long, you know what that implies throughout the movie.
Is there a genre you’d love Ridley to do?
Yates: I’ve done nearly everything in the world. We’ve been to space three times. We’ve been to the Middle Ages a minimum of three times. We’ve done the 1970s.
Tudor?
Max: I would love him to do a very glamorous elegant New York City-based gangster movie. And outdo Scorsese. I would like to get Midtown Deco.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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