Patrick Z. McGavin
Oscar-winning picture editor Claire Simpson (Platoon) was working on the TV series Raised by Wolves (2020) with director Ridley Scott when the work of an assistant editor on the series attracted some attention.
“It was such a joy to stumble upon Sam,” she said of the assistant, Sam Restivo. “I just know he’s talented and ready to break through.”
Simpson and Restivo, now key collaborators with the prolific Scott, have quickly followed up last year’s Napoleon with their latest effort, the epic Gladiator II. The film is a sequel to Scott’s 2000 blockbuster about ancient Roman gladiators, starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzo Washington.
In a joint interview, the two editors talk about the art of collaboration and the drama of finding humanity amid the bloody spectacle of Rome.
CineMontage: You have two overlapping creative relationships with director Ridley Scott. How does this dynamic play out?
Claire Simpson: Trust is an important part of any collaboration. Sam and I did a couple of movies with Ridley. We earned his trust, especially when we offered creative suggestions or alternative ways of shaping a scene. Ridley is incredibly prepared when he begins production, but there are always unforeseen and surprising elements that add to the excitement of the filmmaking experience: an actor’s interpretation of a character, a line interpretation, a location, or The weather was not cooperative. Filmmaking is an ever-evolving process, and editors must adapt to the changing needs of narrative and character development. I’m always surprised when people on set see the finished film and comment that they didn’t believe a scene would work as well as it did because they remember all the technical issues and complications.
As editors, we don’t have the same memory. We are dealing with the language of images, so our focus is on story. When Ridley came to the editing room, he wanted to be surprised and relieved, and enjoy the experience of watching the film with fresh eyes. He was very open minded and gave great advice. He loved the creative environment that Sam and I created.
Sam Restivo: The thing about working with someone like Ridley is that he’s always surprised by our ideas, especially from editors. He is one of the most prepared filmmakers of all time. All of the storyboards for his films are drawn by his own hand. He has a grand plan for every movie he makes.
When Clare and I were working together, first trying to put the film together, he had a road map of what he wanted. He also likes to see what we think about it, just to surprise him and keep the material fresh. From the moment the three of us were in the room working on the director’s cut, it was a completely open collaboration.
CineMontage: This film feels like a companion piece to Napoleon, or even a sequel, switching between large-scale battle scenes and internal political drama.
Claire Simpson: I think the essence of real drama is following the emotional core of the protagonist, because if you don’t feel invested in their plight, then honestly, you’re going to lose interest in the story. Besides having a lot of action that should be exciting, it feels a bit hollow if you can’t keep up with the emotional dynamics of the main character.
Sam Restivo: We’re trying to connect with the characters. As artists and editors, we’re trying to use our empathy and trying to help audiences connect directly with the drama that’s happening. Movies like “Gladiator II” are going to have huge action scenes. We need to be able to connect with Lucius (Paul Mescal) from the first moment of his relationship with his wife, to care about what he’s going through in the opening battle sequence.
CineMontage: Taking the opening battle sequence as an example, what were you trying to achieve through the editing, rhythm, movement and spatial balance within the frame?
Claire Simpson: The whole design is to have a very exciting opening that draws you into the main protagonist of the film. Although the scene is extravagant in its use of weapons, ships and scenery, at its core it is still about two men, Acasius (Pedro Pascal) and apparently Lucius (Paul Mescal) , they initially fight each other as enemies, and at some point, the truth about their true identities must be discovered. This is the introduction of these two characters, who grapple with their own inner struggles in a very exciting and dramatic way.
Sam Restivo: In the opening scene of the Battle of Numidia, Reed used 12 cameras to shoot almost everything. We have a lot of different options, a lot of different things to go through, and a lot of different ways for people to get pierced by arrows. As Claire said, we wanted this to be a battle about these two characters. The first assembly of this scene was about 20+ minutes long, and it just didn’t work to be that long.
We always try to realize how exciting the opening fight scene is and makes you excited for the movie, but it’s not the movie itself. We don’t want the audience to be exhausted after 20 minutes of the movie. So I think we landed around 12 or 13 minutes, and that set the pace. We don’t need seven men pierced by arrows. Why don’t we do three, the audience will understand and move on.
CineMontage: How do you divide responsibilities? Are there parts that you did individually and then put together?
Claire Simpson: We always read the dailies together and discuss them and then break them up. In fact, it’s pretty arbitrary. Whoever has free time does whatever. Once we’ve finished assembling the scenes, we get together to discuss them again and work together.
Sam Restivo: Some of these sequences are multi-day sequences, like big battles, and if one person is working on it the other person is usually revising an early cut that we’ve already done.
Ridley is in contact with us every day. He sees us once, maybe twice a week. In addition to the raw dailies, he also wanted to see the edits we had completed. As a result, we worked at a very fast pace and even during production we were able to keep up with the shots and assemble the sets early on.
CineMontage: Are you always in the same production location?
Claire Simpson: I live in Italy and Sam lives in Los Angeles, but we always go to where they shoot. It was very important for us to get to where the crew was because it gave us the opportunity to get on set and meet the crew.
It made us much more efficient in terms of receiving material and being able to discuss it with the cinematographer and the visual effects people. We were very lucky with this particular production. We had composers and sound people starting work at a very early stage.
CineMontage: It was Denzo Washington’s Iago-like character that shaped the power dynamic. How do you want to reveal this dramatic evolution?
Claire Simpson: Denzo Washington is a skilled, experienced actor who has the ability to make them likable even when he’s playing a deeply unpleasant person. He’s the quintessential bad guy that you can’t resist. You are very attracted to his character.
You don’t quite know what to do, but sooner or later he’ll get his comeuppance. There are a lot of balancing acts to maneuver in the story. The balance keeps tilting. In the first half of the film, the character Acasius appears to be Lucius’s enemy, but then, after Accius’ death, Macrinus slowly reveals himself to be the main manipulator.
CineMontage: Given that the first film was a cultural touchstone, was that something you wanted to acknowledge, or try to subvert in some way in the editing?
Sam Restivo: Obviously we’re both huge fans of the first movie. I saw this movie the day it opened at the Dome and it blew my mind. For many different reasons, whether it’s Russell Crowe’s performance, or the music and Ridley’s direction, this means a lot to a lot of people. We knew we needed to make some adjustments in the first film, but the focus was on making it work on its own. Lucius is a very different character than Maximus (Crowe) and has a very different journey.
Ridley knew we would be revisiting some elements of the first film, including flashbacks. We tried really hard to make it our own. We knew we were going to start the film with a familiar musical cue from the first film, and at this particular moment we wanted to call back to the first film and then let it breathe and become its own thing.
CineMontage: Claire, from the beginning of your career working with Oliver Stone, you have demonstrated a willingness to embrace passionate, complex material. How do you decide which projects you want to do?
Claire Simpson: That’s a hard question. I love doing complex political dramas. I grew up in an atmosphere where endless political discussions around the dinner table were de rigueur, and if you didn’t read at least six newspapers a day, you were really behind the curve. I’ve always been fascinated by politics, and I’ve also been drawn to films that tell the story of the human condition and the stories that lead people into horrific conflicts.
CineMontage: Sam, how did you make the jump from assistant to now a core member of the team with Ridley Scott and Claire?
Sam Restivo: My career has been a long time coming. I worked as an assistant for many years, from post-production assistant to coordinator to assistant editor for many years. The way I tried to make my career was by working as an assistant on big movies. My first job was on post-public broadcasting of Michael Mann’s Collateral (2004). I tried to learn the creative side by making independent films. I edited a bunch of independent films with zero change and zero aid.
I hope at some point those two things come together so that I have the ability to work creatively on bigger films. It wasn’t until I made The Greatest Showman (2017) that I finally started getting opportunities to edit cutscenes. I got a good handle on the assistant side of things, showing that I could do this as well as the creative side. I learned from all these master editors. When I finally started working with Claire, it was just by accident.
Patrick Z. McGavin is a Chicago writer and cultural journalist. He writes about movies at https://patrickzmcgavin.substack.com/.
