Alfonso Cuarón’s time in the wizarding world paid unexpected dividends. At the Busan International Film Festival on Thursday, the Oscar-winning filmmaker revealed that directing a Harry Potter movie gave him the technical grounding and industry standing he needed to eventually helm one of sci-fi’s most respected features.
Why Alfonso Cuarón credits Harry Potter for making Children of Men
Cuarón admitted he felt “a little reluctant to do it” when Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban came his way. The experience, however, delivered more than he expected. “In many ways, Harry Potter gave me many things — one thing is two of the most beautiful years of my life,” he told the audience. The franchise sharpened his technical instincts. Before Harry Potter, Cuarón knew little about visual effects. “Then after Harry Potter it was like second nature,” he said, commending the crew of top-tier collaborators around him.
That industry credibility mattered. Alfonso Cuarón had already written Children of Men, but studios passed. “Nobody wanted to do it,” he recalled. “Then I did Harry Potter, and after, I was able to make Children of Men. So, I have nothing but gratitude towards Harry Potter.” The payoff came slowly. Children of Men opened to lukewarm reviews and flopped commercially, yet it now stands among his most discussed works. “Success, only time will tell,” Cuarón said, arguing that a film’s true value emerges over years, not opening weekends.
The director also explained his famous long takes, a hallmark of Children of Men. He prepares obsessively so that instinct can take over on set. “You prepare and you control in order for the unexpected to happen,” he said, noting that time inside a shot never behaves the same twice. That outlook now shapes his life, not just his filmmaking. “When I was younger, film was everything, and life was only part of film,” Cuarón said. “I guess, now, I embrace life more (via The Hollywood Reporter).”
Harry Potter, it turns out, gave him both a career and a philosophy.