Alfonso Cuarón previously dealt virtually exclusively with Spanish-language niche cinema. The most buzzed about movie was “And Your Mother Too”, about a fiery triangle of teenagers on a journey towards adulthood. When his name suddenly started appearing in production meetings prior to the start of work on the third film in the universe, he was described as promising but experimental.
From “And Your Mother Too” to “The Prisoner of Azkaban”
When Alfonso Cuarón learned that they were offering him to take over one of the most anticipated by fans and most profitable franchises in the world, he was initially – to put it mildly – skeptical. The director knew that somewhere in the distant niche of children’s cinema there was something like “Harry Potter”, but he didn’t think about it. He had other worries – after “And Your Mother Too”, he shot only one more short project and he didn’t really know what to do now. In an interview, he admitted that he was often in contact with another Mexican director, the famous Guillermo del Toro. He had just taken over the “Blade” series and when he heard that his colleague was refusing to work on the third Harry Potter, he did not mince his words:
This title slipped completely under my radar. Back then, I talked to Guillermo a lot and told him that I had been offered to do Harry Potter, but it was a very strange offer for me. He replied: Wait, wait, does that mean you haven’t read Harry? I replied that it wasn’t for me. He said I was an “arrogant asshole,” Cuarón said with disarming honesty.
Ultimately, Alfonso Cuarón accepted the offer on one condition – he would be given a free hand and the producers would allow him to implement his ideas. He chose a different color scheme for the film, added a pinch of horror, moved the camera away from the characters’ faces and showed that the world invented by Rowling – so far resembling a film studio transformed into Hogwarts – is alive and in relationship with real Great Britain. He also changed the way of working with young actors. Instead of memorizing the lines, Radcliffe, Watson and Grint talked a lot with the director, adopting their characters’ personas also outside the film set.
Cuarón at one point had them write essays about their characters. When he gave him less than two pages of text, Watson about ten, and Grint about zero, he knew they were ready to go on set. The specific method of the main star of the series:
It changed the way people looked at us and what we did. It was my first film where I was really guided by the director. And suddenly I was also working with other, very experienced actors – Gary Oldman and David Thewlis. Everyone else on the set looked at me like a child before, but they came in with fresh eyes and saw something different in me. They saw me as the 14-year-old I was then and treated me like a young man, not a kid. For me, this film was a turning point – it was then that I decided who I wanted to be in the future and that I would definitely connect my career with acting, Radcliffe said in 2013 in an interview with HuffPost.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban press materials
Fans divided in half
“The Prisoner of Azkaban” is today the second best-rated film in the entire series (right after the second part of the final installment). But at first glance, the production was met with numerous accusations, most clearly showing the division between fans of the books. Some of them accepted “The Prisoner” with open hearts, not only glad that their beloved literary series had another film, but also that it was as mature as they themselves become with age. The second group, which could be called purists, complained about numerous changes in the plot compared to the book. “Cuarón behaved like a butcher” – you can still read years later in reviews, which pointed out that many important threads for the book were cut out. There were many opinions that giving the director a free hand was a mistake. He turned away from everything developed in Columbus’ films, denied fairy tales in favor of horror and, which is still echoed in negative reviews from 20 years ago, took away the uniforms of Hogwarts students.
The colors of the robes were worn out, everything was less flashy than before. Ties weren’t so red anymore. Alfonso also changed Dumbledore’s robes – from formal and stiff to more eccentric and flowing – explained producer David Heyman in an interview with Total Film.
And indeed, the uniforms went away. The hallmark of Hogwarts rarely appeared in the film, and young wizards were more willing to put on ordinary “civilian” clothes than uniforms after classes. These, too, had much less of the flair of proper first-years – the ties did not tighten around their necks, cutting off the blood flow, the sleeves were freely rolled up, the robes were clearly used, not for show. All these small changes added realism to the film, but took away some of its magic.
However, there were very few critics and today “The Prisoner of Azkaban” is one of the best-remembered productions in the entire film series. The vast majority of viewers appreciated the Mexican’s fresh perspective and his joy in introducing very young teenagers to the brutal world of adults. There was madness in cinemas again. Events for spectators, “magic” tournaments, and night shows were organized. The film paved the way for subsequent film adaptations – when it hit cinema screens, fans could already read two subsequent parts no less dark than the filmed “Prisoner of Azkaban”. Subsequent directors maintained the serious tone set by Alfonso Cuarón, but only he – apart from David Yates, the director of the final “Deathly Hallows” – managed to be permanently remembered by viewers as the creator of the groundbreaking “Harry Potter”.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
