Publications
Partners
Most normal folk don't read the director credit. It's right at the beginning. They're still trying to find their seats without spilling their popcorn (or find the beer, if they're watching on DVD). Plus, they bought the tickets or hired the DVD for the movie stars appearing in it, not some dude in a funny chair.
Still, even the less well informed among us might recognise Alfonso's name from the credits of the last Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
But dedicated cinemagoers pay more attention to the directors. And every movie buff will know Cuaron's masterpiece Y tu mamá también ("And your mother too" 2001), a deeply touching and romantically dark sexual comedy set on the road, in which an beautiful older woman and two teenage boys explore much more than Mexico.
His break had come 10 years before with Love in the Time of Hysteria, a black comedy about a womanizing businessman who gets Aids, which caught the attention of director Sidney Pollack. Pollack was so impressed that got him a gig doing an episode of Fallen Angels another (you guessed it) noir sort of jol.
The episode got him his first American feature, an adaptation of The Little Princess followed by another adaptation (of Charles Dickens' Great Expections). His latest film is yet another adaptation, this time of PD James novel "Children of Men".
In between his other commitments, his production company, Esperanto Films, produced one of the strangest and best movies of 2004, the trancelike black and white art movie Duck Season.
In terms of future projects he's been announced to direct The Memory of Running (a futuristic film to be released in 2007), The History of Love (another adaptation, also for 2007) and México '68.
- Jean Barker
Trivia
In Et Tu Mama Tambien, actor Diego Luna wore a prosthetic penis to appear circumcised. In real life, he is not circumcised. Now that's attention to detail!
He has said that The Little Princess is his most personal film, the one that's closest to his heart.
Y Tu Mama Tambien broke Mexican Box office records in 2001, grossing $2.2 million in its first week, the biggest opening ever for a Mexican film.
After seeing the movie, Gail Zappa, Frank Zappa's widow, gave special permission for the use of "Watermelon in Easter Hay" in Y Tu Mama, even though Frank's will said it could never be used anywhere but the album.
Shampoo was used instead of semen for the "masturbating in the pool scene" in Y Tu Mama.
Many other directors including Guillermo del Torro and Marc Forster were offered the job (or considered for the job) of doing the third Harry Potter before Cuarón was offered it.
Cuarón likes to use green in his movies. Rumour has it that he only auditioned green-eyed girls for The Little Princess. He combines this green base with red and orange (complimentary and opposite colours) for contrast and impact.
What he said about
"It's a myth for our times, ... You read about Fudge and the Ministry of Magic -- that's Tony Blair! And Guantanamo is not that different from Azkaban. There are Dementors there, too.” (on Harry Potter III)
"The moment I read the third [Harry Potter book], I immediately went through the first, I read 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." (on Harry Potter III)
"It was going to be a film school teacher's nightmare. It was not about breaking the rules, but about not knowing the rules ever existed." (On Y Tu Mama Tambien)
"Most of cinema nowadays, it’s about shooting a lot and then figuring it out in the cutting room rather than seeing your film in the head and just seeing what is in your head and not shoot but what you have already envisioned."
"I really believe that for filmmakers the only reason you make a movie is not to set out to make a good or bad movie, it’s just to see what you learned for the next one. And if anything I learned it’s to trust the process."
Filmography (Abridged)
The Memory of Running (2007) (announced)
México '68 (2007) (announced)
The History of Love (2007) (announced)
Children of Men (2006)
Paris, je t'aime (2006) (segment "Parc Monceau")
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Y tu mamá también (2001) aka And Your Mother Too (USA)
Great Expectations (1998)
A Little Princess (1995)
