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He's wild about 'Harry' -
Summary:
Another article with Alfonso
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TLC
The first two "Harry Potter' films were put in the commercially reliable hands of blandly mainstream director Chris Columbus. But a distinctively artful filmmaker, Mexico's Alfonso Cuaron, was tapped to helm the third adaptation of J.K. Rowling's popular boy wizard chronicles, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.'
So what did the director of the enchanting "A Little Princess' and the raunchy, politically astute "Y tu mama tambien' do differently from the "Home Alone' guy?
"It's just different minds, with different virtues and different flaws,' Cuaron says graciously by phone from an editing room in London. "What I inherited was very well-crafted by Chris and the creative team, and let's not forget that most of the casting was done by Chris in his first two movies. I felt very comfortable in that world, and I hope I can add to that world and not just make a repetition of the first two.
"The tone is different and maybe a little darker. But not just because of me, because of the book and because Harry is now 13 and perceives reality differently from when he was a kid.'
Producer David Heyman chose Cuaron for the "Azkaban' job because the diametrically opposed "tambien' and "Princess' exemplified two qualities the third story required: keen understanding of the adolescent psyche and the capacity to evoke magic on the screen.
"Harry has a bit more of the attitude of a 13-year-old,' Heyman notes. "He's growing up and, I think, the films are growing up. This third one is a little edgier, a little darker. It's funny, it's charming, it still has a lot of the qualities of the first two. But it's grown up with the kids. It explores internal fears as well as external fears. So it's not just monsters, it's inner demons.'
Parents needn't worry though. Yet. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are still at a presexual stage in "Azkaban.' Still, Cuaron confirms that the special-effects super- production shares deep similarities with his down-and-dirty Mexican hit.
"The themes are very similar,' the director says. " 'Y tu mama tambien' is about teenagers seeking their adult identities, and 'Azkaban' is about children looking for their identities as teenagers. I think that 'Harry Potter' films can be very, very fun rides, but there are a lot of other readings to the materials, so this theme could come through.'
None of which means that Cuaron was out to turn "Azkaban' into an auteurist statement. Although he insists that he felt complete creative freedom while making the film, he also notes that his goal from the beginning was to make a "Harry Potter' movie rather than an Alfonso Cuaron film.
"The biggest challenge was to honor the universe and just make it supercool,' he says. "In terms of one of these films, the special effects are becoming kind of second nature, it's nothing that you really think about. But the thing is, Harry Potter's is such an eloquent and well-crafted universe. You just hope to rise to the eloquence of the books.'
In fact, the huge production investment and attendant high audience expectations were a boon, Cuaron says. After all, for all their glowing reputations, "tambien' was only successful in limited, foreign art-film terms, and "Princess' was a commercial flop.
"It's the first time I've gone to work in a machinery that was perfectly well-oiled,' Cuaron explains. "There's a comfort about it because there's a lot of stuff you don't have to worry and stress about. Let me put it this way: When you're doing your little film, you're hoping that somebody will see it. Here, from the get-go, you know that millions and millions of people are going to see the film. So I don't have to look for my audience and can concentrate on what cool things I can show to these millions of people. It has a different rhythm and a different energy, also.'
Heyman confirms that Cuaron got as deeply into big-time, high-tech moviemaking as he conceivably could.
"Alfonso is so focused and knowledgeable, and he wants to do everything himself,' the producer says. "If he could, he would sew the buttons onto costumes and paint the backdrops himself. He is so detail-oriented and so specific about what he wants that it's both challenging and exciting. You have someone who has the entire film in his head, and that's a fantastic thing.'
While thrilled with the big train set he got to play with, Cuaron admits that he's ready to do a two-guys-talking movie next.
"I'm not talking about creatively, but definitely technically, I feel that I'm not scared about doing anything else that could look difficult and challenging,' the director says. "On the other hand, I've also discovered that I'm not the happiest of men when I'm doing a fully bluescreen job. But the pleasure of having all the toys is amazing.'
In the end, Cuaron says, "Azkaban' will succeed or fail on the strength of its human elements.
"I was very lucky, particularly with the young actors,' he notes. "I got them al dente, at the perfect boiling point. On the one hand, they'd done two films and they understood all the technical aspects and lingo of doing a film. On the other hand, they were 13, and they were taking themselves really seriously. So they were willing to explore more emotional territories. Probably, if something's going to be different about "Harry Potter 3,' it'll be more emotionally grounded, and that will be reflected in the style of performance.'
And here is a new picture of Dan
