“Forget this movie for 6 years, the technology doesn’t exist!” : No one believed that this masterpiece would be possible at 7 Oscars

The director Alfonso Cuaron, who was invited to receive an award to celebrate his career at the Locarno International Film Festival, took part in the master class to the great joy of the audience. He takes an honest look at his career, especially He talked about his work Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, considered by many fans of the Hogwarts Wizard’s Apprentice to be one of the best films in the saga.

Reserves were quickly wiped out

Cuarón initially had reservations about the project, before they evaporated after J.K. After reading Rowling’s novel. “I found it beautiful”emphasized that Rowling’s narrative focused on the transition from childhood to adolescence and the social context of certain classes, rather than simple magic. “I love the world he’s created because it’s rooted in humanity, it was a pleasure to make this film.”. Released in 2004, the film grossed more than $800 million at the box office.

In addition to the satisfaction of casting this film, Cuarón also explains that it was thanks to this that he was able to make his next film, The Sons of Man, and later, Gravity. I knew that I would need visual effects to do Sons of Man. I said, “Well, I don’t know anything about visual effects. This will be my kindergarten.” Prisoner of Azkaban therefore allowed the filmmaker to learn a bit about visuals and special effects.

“After the failure of my film, the desire to work with me disappeared”

Cuarón then offers some thoughts on his next film’s very painful, albeit unremarkable, failure children of man. Unanimously hailed as one of the greatest sci-fi films of the 2000s, with a sensational cast including Clive Owen in the title role, the film still crashed in the US market, taking in just $35 million. from a budget of 76 million dollars. Same at the international level.

“After Sons of Man, which was a terrible commercial failure, the desire to work with me disappeared” The filmmaker commented, according to him IndieWire. “So I started writing and developing the film with my son, I started preparing and there was a casting Charlotte Gainsbourg and Guillaume Canet. It was a road trip from the south of France to the north of Scotland. Financing was very difficult and the film failed. At the same time, I was going through the worst periods in my personal life.”

And to understand that at that time he had almost no money left, and explained to his colleagues that he needed to continue working so as not to boil the pot. An arthouse film, too risky and in any case a luxury that he could not afford at that time, but “A project that would allow the studio to write me a check.” it will be gravitywhich he wrote with his son.

James Cameron told us how we could do it, but it was a $400 million movie.

Warner Bros. He clearly did not want to invest a lot of money in it, he was not completely sure about the project. And Cuarón realizes that his film is far more technologically ambitious than expected. He seeks advice from his friend David Fincher, who tries to recruit him. Forget this movie for six years, the technology doesn’t exist.

“James Cameron He told us how we could do it, but it was a $400 million movie. We told him that only he could do it. And he said, “Yes, you’re right.” So we developed our own way. We were technologically developing the film for three to four years.”

Thanks to patience, ingenuity and above all persistence, Cuarón will complete his film, a true technical tour de force, which will be presented at the Venice Film Festival, where it will cause a sensation. Start an impressive buzz that won’t go away. On the contrary. The film, which won 7 Oscars, including Best Director, grossed $732 million at the box office. It is enough to erase the painful memory of his previous film’s poor commercial performance.