masterofmystery | 09-04-2018 03:33 PM | Quote of the Week: Alfonso Cuaron reveals who told him to direct Prisoner of Azkaban https://www.snitchseeker.com/gallery/images/qotw5.gif
While promoting the premiere of his upcoming feature Roma (which is already generating incredible Oscar-buzz this season), Alfonso Cuaron revealed the person who demanded he take the directorial post for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 15 years ago, when he was initially reluctant to do so. Do note there's a bit of strong language in the reveal. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"F---kin' flaco!" My favorite part of Alfonso Cuaron's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Telluride?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tellu ride</a> tribute was when he shared the f-bomb laden story of the time Guillermo del Toro talked him into making Harry Potter. Here are excerpts from our conversation, before the premiere of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Roma?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Roma</a>: <a href="https://t.co/HzmxyZGqse">https://t.co/HzmxyZGqse</a></p>— Rebecca Keegan (@ThatRebecca) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThatRebecca/status/1036381229459824640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Quote: When you were finishing Y Tu Mama Tambien, you were invited to direct a Harry Potter movie, and you were reluctant. I understand that you had a conversation with Guillermo del Toro that changed your mind. Can you tell us about that conversation?
Cuaron: I talked with Guillermo, as I always do, and he says, “What’s happening? Any projects going on?” And I said, “I’m going for Harry Potter, can you believe it? And I even made fun of it. I hadn’t read the books or seen the films. And then he looks upset with me. He called me flaco, that means skinny [in English]. He says, “F---kin’ skinny, have you read the books?” I said, “No, I haven’t read the books.” He says, “F---kin’ skinny, you’re such a f---kin’ arrogant b---rd. You are going right now to the f---kin’ bookshop and get the books and you’re going to read them and you call me right away.”
When he talks to you like that, well, you have to go to the bookshop. At that time, the fourth book had just come out. And I read the first two, and I was halfway through the third, [and] that was the one they had offered me. And I called him and said, “Well the material’s really great.” He says, “Well, you see you f---kin’ ...” I mean, it’s just untranslatable from the Spanish.... As a filmmaker, it was almost like a lesson of humility, of saying how am I going to do it my own, but at the same time, respecting what has been beloved in those couple of movies?
| Roma releases on Netflix and in select theaters this December. The trailer can be watched here. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is also playing in U.S. theaters now to tie in with the 20th anniversary celebration of J.K. Rowling's first novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. |