Alfonso Cuarón took on Prisoner Of Azkaban because Guillermo del Toro told him to get over himself

"I was confused because it was completely not on my radar," the Gravity director initially said of the franchise

By Emma Keates | May 24, 2024 | 2:35pm

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Alfonso Cuarón took on Prisoner Of Azkaban because Guillermo del Toro told him to get over himself

Alfonso Cuarón promoting Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban in 2004 Photo: Mario Guzman

Alfonso Cuarón’s Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban is widely considered to be the pinnacle of the cinematic Wizarding World, but every few years it ignites a Time Turner-esque cycle of its own. New Potterheads (if there are any of those left) continue to discover Y Tu Mamá También and Children Of Men and ask why the hell this director of all people decided to do a children’s film about werewolves and badly flavored jelly beans. Now, we finally have our answer—and it frankly sounds like the exact type of goading that would motivate the film’s magical protagonist into doing something stupid himself.

“I was confused because it was completely not on my radar,” Cuarón said of the franchise in a Total Film interview commemorating the third outing’s 20th anniversary. “I speak often with Guillermo [del Toro], and a couple of days after, I said, ‘You know, they offered me this Harry Potter film, but it’s really weird they offer me this.’ He said, ‘Wait, wait, wait, you said you haven’t read Harry Potter?’ I said, ‘I don’t think it’s for me.’ In very florid lexicon, in Spanish, he said, ‘You are an arrogant asshole.’”

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Aside from how awesome it is to imagine this exchange occurring between two great filmmakers, the vision behind the choice was nothing short of inspired. “I’d seen Y Tu Mamá También, which I loved, and I oddly thought he’d be the perfect director for the third Potter. That’s not what some might think,” producer David Heyman said of the initial lightbulb. But “not what some might think” is honestly kind of an understatement. Y Tu Mamá También is a classic for a reason, but its highly sexualized rendering of two teenage boys’ road trip into adulthood is about as far from the Gryffindor common room as anything could be.

“Can you imagine what some thought Harry, Ron and Hermione would get up to, having seen Y Tu Mamá También?” Heyman continued. “Y Tu Mamá was about the last moments of being a teenager, and Azkaban was about the first moments of being a teenager… I felt he could make the show feel, in a way, more contemporary. And just bring his cinematic wizardry.”

He was right, of course. After the poppy, childhood whimsy of Chris Columbus’ first two films, Azkaban brought the perfect tone, color palette, and questionable haircut to flesh out Harry’s experience not only of being a teenager, but one coming of age in a place where almost everything is trying to kill you. That film remains a bright spot in a franchise that’s increasingly hard to engage with.