The Gentlemen Cinematographer Reflects on Season 2, Creevy & More

Posted in: Netflix, TV | Tagged: the gentlemen

The Gentlemen Cinematographer Reflects on Season 2, Creevy & More

Cinematographer Stephen Murphy (Mr. and Mrs. Smith) discussed his work on the second season of Netflix and Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen.

Published Wed, 21 Oct 2026 08:37:09 -0500
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• The Gentlemen cinematographer Stephen Murphy breaks down joining season 2 and collaborating closely with director Eran Creevy.
• Murphy explains how The Gentlemen season 2 balances Guy Ritchie’s visual style with fast, cinematic TV production.
• A standout The Gentlemen season 2 sequence in a nighttime airport hangar let Murphy go big with vintage lenses and scale.
• Stephen Murphy also reflects on his 30-year career, evolving DP process, and why Marvel, Star Wars, and a Western appeal.

Cinematographer Stephen Murphy has learned to become versatile over his 30-year career working in the entertainment industry through his various TV and film projects, getting his start on the BBC TV series Ballykissangel as a camera assistant and gaining invaluable experience on NBC's The West Wing. His recent projects include Prime Video's action shows Hanna and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Hulu's Atlanta, and horror films like Paramount's Primate (2026) and Sony's Heart Eyes (2025). Murphy spoke to Bleeding Cool about his current Netflix series The Gentlemen, the Guy Ritchie spinoff based on his 2019 film of the same name. The series stars Theo James as Eddie, an aristocrat who inherits the family estate only to discover that it's home to a huge weed empire, and its proprietors aren't going anywhere. Season two picks up with Eddie and Suzie (Kaya Scodelario) deciding where to go, with Bobby (Ray Winstone) standing in the way of their expansion. Murphy spoke to Bleeding Cool about joining the Ritchie series for season two, working with director Eran Creevy, his favorite sequence, why he wants in Disney's two biggest IPs, and the secret to his longevity.

The Gentlemen Cinematographer Stephen Murphy Discusses Season 2, Why He Wouldn't Mind Doing Marvel or Star Wars, and More

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about the gentleman and how'd you get involved?

Murphy: I got involved in the show by meeting Eran Creevy, who was the director of the four episodes that I shot. He was looking for a DP; my name got put in the mix. We had a meeting, and we just hit it off really well, and so really that's why I wanted to get involved in the show. I'd seen his work on it before, and really enjoyed the show; I thought it looked great, but really it was just to work with Eran. He seemed like a kindred spirit.

What's it like working with Eran as a creative, and how do you distinguish the Guy Ritchie style compared to any other action projects you've been involved with?

Working with Eran is great. I mean, all my creative input into 'The Gentleman' is via Eran, so he's worked on season one. He knows Guy Ritchie's likes and dislikes quite well, and he knows what the show wants to be visually. The two of us discuss all of our ideas together and then off we go.

You worked a lot on the second season; did you have a particular standout sequence?

There's a scene at the end of episode five ("A Suburban A-Road on the Outskirts of Basingstoke") set in an airport hangar at nighttime, and it's kind of the culmination of that sort of particular episode's story strand. It is a big character moment for Susie and a big catch moment for Eddie (Theo James), and it is just a really fantastic location. We shot it with old Panavision anamorphic lenses, and we got to light the whole airfield up in this old hangar with all these vintage planes inside of it. It looked beautiful; it was a great space to work in, and it was just a great scene. The writing and performances were really great. They were really emotional, and we had a lot of fun doing it, so that's probably the sequence that stands out in my mind.

Which scene was the most difficult?

That is a great question. There was nothing crazy difficult. Everything's challenging, but in a good way. When you've got good collaborators around you, like James North, our (production) designer, and Shelley (Lankovits), our first AD, we were all a great team. We synced up quickly and really well, and usually, with TV drama, the big challenge is time. Your ambition is huge. You're trying to deliver cinema-level work, but you've got lots of resources, but don't have the same amount of time that you might have in a big movie, so that's the challenge for everything, but it's not anything that's interminable. It's always challenging in a good way, and with Eran, he makes it fun, so it's challenging in a fun way.

You do a lot of genre work in the dramatic, action, and horror fields. Is there a particular one that you feel at home in? Is there one genre that you wish to tackle, perhaps in the future, that you haven't explored yet?

A lot of people say this, but if I got a chance, I'd love to shoot an old-fashioned Western. I know they don't make those anymore, but I love to do more genre work. I'm a huge nerd. I'm a massive comic book and huge sci-fi fan. If someone from Lucasfilm called up and said, "Hey, you want to do a Star Wars?" I'd be like, "Hell yeah!" If Marvel wants to call and offer me a comic book movie? "Hell yeah!" The benefit of being a cinematographer is I get to bounce around genres, which is great. I don't necessarily have to be pigeonholed into just doing one kind of movie. There are days when you're doing really simple scenes; it's just people talking in a room, and they can be some of the most rewarding and powerful things to shoot. There are days when you're climbing to the top of the mountains to see the sunrise. It's incredibly difficult, but it's absolutely stunning, breathtaking, and that can be really rewarding to shoot. It can all be fun if you know you are into it, and you make it fun.

You've been coming up here about 30 years in the industry, and between your work as a camera operator and your evolution as a DP, did you consider taking that leap into directing?

How has my process evolved over the years? It's probably become simpler. When I started out, like most DPs, you're sort of tech-obsessed, and a lot of it's about equipment, cameras, and lights. You're trying to emulate the stuff you've seen your heroes do, and what lights and cameras do they use? All that kind of stuff, and what you grow to learn over time with a bit of experience is that stuff doesn't really matter as much as you think it does. The tools are all just tools. It's how you use them. Sure, it helps to have lots of money and resources, but sometimes it hurts to have too much of both.

It depends on the project and your approach. Picking the right approach for each project is the tricky thing, and it's where the experience and taste come in terms of what I want to direct. If the right project came along, sure, but I wouldn't want to do it just for the sake of doing it. I'm in a very fortunate position; I'm sitting really close to the director. I'm hearing a lot of conversations that happen. They've got a tough job. They're trying to balance a lot behind the scenes, and what I get to do is very creative and satisfying. Would I want to direct? For the right job, maybe, but not just for any job.

The Gentlemen, which also stars Daniel Ings, Joely Richardson, Vinnie Jones, Giancarlo Esposito, Hugh Bonneville, Michele Morrone, Benedetta Porcaroli, Sergio Castellitto, and Peter Ferdinando, is available on Netflix.

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