Alfonso Cuarón revealed he practically handed on directing 2004’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban earlier than his fellow filmmaker Guillermo del Toro knocked some sense into him.
To mark the twentieth anniversary of the hit film franchise’s third movie, the director spoke to Complete Movie, the place he shared his response to being provided the job, as he wasn’t too conversant in the Wizarding World initially.
“I used to be confused as a result of it was utterly not on my radar,” Cuarón stated, notably as a result of his challenge earlier than Harry Potter was a very completely different style, the Spanish-language erotic drama Y Tu Mamá También. “I communicate usually with Guillermo [del Toro], and a few days after, I stated, ‘You realize, they provided me this Harry Potter movie, but it surely’s actually bizarre they provide me this.’”
Nevertheless, del Toro knew how large the film franchise was, particularly after Chris Columbus’ first two movies, so the Hellboy director gave Cuarón some candid recommendation.
“He stated, ‘Wait, wait, wait, you stated you haven’t learn Harry Potter?’ I stated, ‘I don’t assume it’s for me,’” the Oscar winner recalled of their dialog. “In very florid lexicon, in Spanish, he stated, ‘You’re an boastful asshole.’”
Although Cuarón didn’t assume he was the proper match to helm the film, David Heyman, a producer on all eight Harry Potter installments, recalled desirous to department out for Prisoner of Azkaban.
“I’d seen Y Tu Mamá También, which I cherished, and I oddly thought he’d be the right director for the third Potter,” Heyman defined.
“That’s not what some would possibly assume,” he continued. “Are you able to think about what some thought Harry, Ron and Hermione would stand up to, having seen Y Tu Mamá También?… Y Tu Mamá was in regards to the final moments of being an adolescent, and Azkaban was in regards to the first moments of being an adolescent. I felt he may make the present really feel, in a method, extra up to date. And simply deliver his cinematic wizardry.”
Though Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban carried out the worst on the field workplace in comparison with all the opposite Harry Potter movies, it nonetheless managed to gross greater than $796 million worldwide.