JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH Director Says Ridley Scott's KINGDOM OF HEAVEN Helped Shape the Look of the Sequel — GeekTyrant

Geek Tyrant

5 hours ago

When you think of Ridley Scott's influence on modern filmmakers, your mind probably jumps to Alien or Blade Runner . But for Jurassic World: Rebirth director Gareth Edwards, it was Kingdom of Heaven , Scott's 2005 historical epic, that helped define the visual tone for his upcoming dinosaur-adventure thriller.
In a recent interview with SFX Magazine, Edwards opened up about his creative process and how that medieval drama unexpectedly became a major source of inspiration for the new Jurassic sequel. Specifically, he praised the film's cinematographer, John Mathieson, whose work with Scott goes all the way back to Gladiator .
'John Mathieson was the director of photography, and the more and more I looked at it, the more I was like, 'This is perfection.' There's not a bad frame in this movie. I've always had this love for his work.'
Mathieson has built a long-running collaboration with Scott, having also shot Robin Hood , The Man in the High Castle pilot, and the upcoming Gladiator II . His style is rich, elegant, and painterly, which are traits you wouldn't typically associate with a movie about dinosaurs, but Edwards clearly had a vision.
The director said he was determined to work with Mathieson, but it required some careful maneuvering through studio preferences and the approval of executive producer Steven Spielberg.
'When you start a film like this, you have a group of names you'd like to work with, and the studio have a group of names they would trust. Then there's Steven [Spielberg] as well in the middle of that. There was this one little overlap where they all intersected, and everyone agreed on Mathieson.'
That overlap turned out to be a win for Edwards.. While the movie may not feature knights and siege towers, the visual tone of Kingdom of Heaven will be there in the atmosphere, the lighting, and the framing of a world where dinosaurs are going around terrorizing people.
Jurassic World: Rebirth hits theaters on July 2, 2025.