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12-29-2003, 09:31 AM
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[img]http://www.snitchseeker.com/images/news/alfonso_cuaron_80.jpg' align='middle'> Inheriting Hogwarts - Summary:
Inheriting Hogwarts Article: Inheriting Hogwarts
British movie magazine Empire Online recently published an excellent interview with PoA director Alfonso Cuaron. After flirting with Hollywood for his film versions of Great Expectations and The Little Princess, Mexican-born Alfonso Cuaron returned to his homeland last year to make a small-budget labour of love about two randy teenagers, one confused woman and a country, all on a trip to find their identities. The result, Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too), smashed box office records at home in Mexico, took over $13 million in America and became the biggest ever Spanish language hit in Britain while also arguably landing him the not small undertaking of Harry Potter 3. On the release of this fantastic film on DVD, Empire Online grabbed him before he goes into production on Prisoner of Azkaban to talk sex, Harry and Hollywood
Collaborating with Jo Rowling for Harry Potter is super cool, a great creative ally
How do you cope with the difference in artistic control when you make your own films in Mexico like Y Tu Mama Tambien and then a huge Hollywood film like the upcoming Harry Potter 3?
Well, it's just two completely different scenarios but ultimately the creative process is exactly the same. And collaborating with Jo Rowling for Harry Potter is super cool, a great creative ally. I think we have a great connection creatively. I feel very good about it. But I think it's very wrong that people think Hollywood is the destination of a filmmaker. That bothers me a lot. If Hollywood were a destination for filmmakers, oh my god, we wouldn't have the people who actually create the new forms, the new languages of how people tell stories. For me, Hollywood is part of a journey and not a destination. But when people talk about Hollywood as the only maker of cinema it bothers me a lot. It is the big centre of the world cinema business but that has nothing to do with art or with cinema.
Do you think you can do both - create both art and do business in Hollywood?
Well, yes, there are some amazing examples. Every year I think some of the best movies come out of the Hollywood structure. I'm talking about people like the Coen brothers, Woody Allen and Scorsese.
Why do you think Y Tu Mama Tambien was such a success in other countries?
Well, I think the story is very universal. The colour of the story is very specific but the theme is very universal. Ultimately, it's all about identity and that's a human process that's not confined to different countries. And I think good cinema is that which transcends the unique scenarios and connects with the human experience.
Are you enjoying relocating to Britain for the shooting of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?
I've always liked London and spent long periods here but never quite as long as this. I'm just having a blast working on this film and collaborating with everyone and walking around London everyday.
Is Pottermania as big in Mexico as it is here?
Well, the books are so huge all over the world. When I came here some time ago, my niece asked me to get her the most recent book. She's so happy I'm doing the film.
Sex in Harry Potter? It's going to be steamy...magical.
Did you set out to make the sex scenes so uncompromising in Y Tu Mama and will any of this lust make an appearance along with Harry Potter's first crush in The Prisoner of Azkaban?
[laughing] Sex in Harry Potter? [in a quiet whisper] It's going to be steamy… magical. We'll have digital effects too! But no, we didn't make it a priority to be uncompromising in Y Tu Mama. We just wanted to be honest.
The ease and chemistry between the two leads, Gabriel Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, in Y Tu Mama is remarkable. Was the action all improvised, as it seems?
That's a testament to the actors because actually everything 95% you see in the film was completely planned and written. The boys also know each other since they were babies, so there's a really natural connection there. What was brilliant that they recognised in the script something that was so close to them and emotionally they exposed themselves a lot.
There's a fun about the teen years that’s undeniable. Whoever tries to deny that, they probably never got laid!
Do you think any of your own teenage life made its way into the film?
I'm sure, a lot of it. It's very, very autobiographical but in an emotional way rather than in terms of anecdotes. A lot, a lot, a lot of references were included because it was fun for us to put them in. There was stuff like me and my brother went to a wedding in exactly the same place as the wedding in the film takes place. The President was there and everyone just wanted to kiss bottom with the President and didn't care at all for the newlyweds. And the nanny in the film is actually our real nanny…
Did she bring you cheese sandwiches like in the film?!
Well, I'm embarassed to say yes! But we are also very different from Julio and Tenoch!
What inspired the story of Y Tu Mama and how did the movie progress?
The storyline first came to me and my brother in the last 80s. I was talking with Emmanuel Lubezki, my cinematographer, about a low budget film and he said what about a story of a couple of friends who go to a beach. And I took that story and talked about it with my brother, Carlo. But whichever approach we were taking, it started to smell like an American teen movie. And so we left it behind and ended up writing something that would end up being my first film. So once in a while over the years, we would talk about Y Tu Mama and add new elements to the storyline but never in written form- maybe notes on napkins. It was not until a couple of years ago that we got together and decided that context was as important as character. And that was the point of departure. That's where the narrator in the film came in. Through that we could get the whole thing about the teenage years. There's a fun about the teen years that’s undeniable. Whoever tries to deny that, they probably never got laid! But there's also terrible angst - I would never go back to that period of my life. It was terrible. With the narrator, you can then discover how life can be terrible around you, but the pain of life doesn't take away from the beauty of life. And you also get more about the context, what the film was all about. It was about these two characters trying to find their identity, this woman trying to find her identity as a liberated woman and also this country trying to find its identity as an adult country.
http://www.empireonline.co.uk/features/int...ytumamatambien/  | |
01-01-2004, 02:57 PM
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#26 (permalink)
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wow!i hope this movie is the greatest, i just cant wait no more!
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01-02-2004, 11:48 PM
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#27 (permalink)
| | Bicorn
Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: The Highest cloud on Loon-Land
Posts: 1,808
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Quote: Originally posted by Marcella_Riddle@Dec 29 2003, 10:11 AM
Well, it's just two completely different scenarios but ultimately the creative process is exactly the same. And collaborating with Jo Rowling for Harry Potter is super cool, a great creative ally. I think we have a great connection creatively. I feel very good about it. But I think it's very wrong that people think Hollywood is the destination of a filmmaker. That bothers me a lot. If Hollywood were a destination for filmmakers, oh my god, we wouldn't have the people who actually create the new forms, the new languages of how people tell stories. For me, Hollywood is part of a journey and not a destination. But when people talk about Hollywood as the only maker of cinema it bothers me a lot. It is the big centre of the world cinema business but that has nothing to do with art or with cinema.
What a cool guy and I totally agree, we have some fantastic Directors and just because they are not 'Hollywood Material' they are not respected like they should be - It's nice to see grounded people, respect to Alfonso!! :flowersmile:
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