Rotten Tomatoes UK recently caught up with Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuaron and spoke to him about his feelings on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and asked the director if he had any interest in returning to direct the film of the last Harry Potter book. Saying he has just begun reading “Deathly Hallows”, Alfonso Cuaron gave the following answer about his feelings if he were to be offered a directing position for the film adaptation of the book:
“You know, it was such a great opportunity and such a beautiful two years and everything around Harry Potter – JK Rowling’s creation – is enveloped in this really beneficial energy. I got the benefits of that energy for those two years. So yes I’d be very tempted to do so even though, at this point, I feel a little bit like I have to try to do the films that are not going to exist without me. On the same token, I would be really tempted because it was really beautiful. I just started reading the last book and something I respect is the care the producers have put in the film franchise. It would have been so easy after the success of the series just to take the cynical approach of knowing that no matter what people are going to see those movies. Actually they’ve been taking a lot of care from beginning to end, so yeah I would be really tempted.”
You people don’t understand anything about movies, really.
Poa film was never going to be like Poa book and viceversa.
CUARON COME BACK AND SAVE US FROM YATES!
I say YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSS ! PoA is my favorite movie so far. Even if I’d like to see in it explanation of Marauder’s Map and their creators (that’s the worst failing in the movie)... indeed PoA movie was reach of atmosphere !
ANYONE but Alfonso! (Well, maybe NOT M. Night Bomborama either.) Cuaron’s vision of PoA was so far removed from the book as to be virtually unrecognizable.
Interestingly, though, David Yates’ homages to PoA in the latest film worked far better than the originals . . . go figure.
I personally would like to see Yates do a three-peat!
As for the shrunken heads that was just plain sick. In the novels only dark wizards think shrunken heads are cool, yet Cuaron had them hanging about in normal wizard locations. Harry Potter has enough problems with certain groups saying it is “evil”, without a director including sick jokes based on human remains.
I’m going with the please no people. Prsoner of Azkaban was such a BIG dissapointment for me. And I think he will just butcher Deadly Hollows. So please don’t let him anywhere near Harry Potter films ever again!!!!.
Ps. I am worries about how they will make HP7 in a film, maybe they could make 2 parts of it? That way none of it will go to waste. This book is just to good to be cut up.
Nooooooo, he has no idea of the characters. Kloves is bad enough, but with a director who actually cares for the characters, it is okay. But nooooo, please, hands off HP.
I don´t think Cuaron is a bad director generally, or Kloves is a bad scriptwriter generally. They are great, certainly. But they should never ever be allowed to cooperate in a HP movie.
This is just the humble opinion of a HP fan who loathed the PoA movie.
Oh please no. While I loved his cinematic style, I still think he contributed greatly in the slaughter of the story, especially that of the Marauders. Plus, with the evidence we have at hand, he might have Hermione defeat Voldemort, instead of Harry, and I think artistic license can go only so far…
Cuckoo4tofu and Ashley
I’m with you in all your points (except that I do love all the movies, whatever their faults).
Although Cuaron messed with the order a lot in POA it still remains my favourite, OotP my second.
I can see bits that could be cut, but I really, really hope that no important plot details are altered or moved around this time. I think it’s especially important in DH than any other book (most of the other films’ alterations I can live with except the Q World Cup incident in GOF).
I’m sorry but… PLEASE no! First time I watched PoA, yes I was impressed because it so removed from the trivial style of PS and CoS – but the second, third, etc times I’ve watched it, I’ve just had to cringe at every ridiculos camera angle or expression… the camera angles bother me the most, like Harry and Hermione at the Whomping Willow, the fade circles in and out of fainting, the extreme close-ups of Harry’s vertical face, the removed shots when Harry, Ron and Hermione are going to Hagrid’s (showing clearly that there are no one where Harry and Hermione are supposed to be, yet later Hermione sees herself, um..) and that darn staircase… But other things that bother me are of course the little wanna-be trademarks of Cuaron’s style, such as the cuckoo clock (aaaargh!), the crows, the shrunken heads… and what Cuaron brings out in the actors. Gambon, Dudley, that-mysterious-boy, Hermione’s laughter and The Harry Growl are just a few examples. And when Hagrid looks at Harry in the Buckbeak scene… it’s just not realistic!!!
All that said however, I’ve always maintained that I think Cuaron would have done an excellent job with Chamber of Secrets, and if he’d had the chance to direct that one, it might change everyone’s perceptions of the entire first part of the HP series – I love PS exactly because it’s so childlike, and so REAL – magic is what it’s supposed to be in the books, just an everyday thing, unimpressive to Ron and the others, while Harry is completely overwhelmed by it. But CoS came ot looking the exact same way PS did, and I got bored. The only way for the casual viewer to tell them apart is Hermione’s hair, and considering how wildly the styles of the movies have changed since then, this similarity becomes a flaw. Thank goodness the actors have stayed the same really, otherwise it’d be a completely random assembly of movies. But so I’d been thinking, I think Cuaron could have worked excellently with the quirks that CoS does have, and brought out the scary and mysterious side of that book much better than Columbus did with his innocent and fantastical approach to it. Imagine the Chamber and forest scenes in the hands of Cuaron… I think it cold have been excellent. PoA, on the other hand, needed the normalcy and simplicity to contrast with the time turner plotline, and didn’t need all those cringe-worthy moments to take away from the PLOT. And the same I think can be said for the remaining Potter movies, including Deathly Hallows, which with all that massive plot and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, both from those that die and those that don’t, wouldn’t be fit for a let’s-make-a-spaced-out-movie approach. I do think if Cuaron came back he’d have learned a little from his mistakes… but no, we need the PLOT to be the main focus of 7, and not a director trying to create a unique artistic experience. Not the last movie, please. I’d be happier with Columbus back – not that I think he would be the best choice, but at least he wouldn’t mess around and experiment, he’d tell the story that’s there to tell. I hope Newell or Yates come back for 7, though I’m sure a completely different director could do an amazing job – just PLEASE tell the STORY!
But then, the best producer in the world won’t do much good if the warner stick to that 2h30 limit !
Because if some blame the script writer / producer, well, they could have done less cuts in a longer movie.
oh come on, we need a 3h movie, if not 3h30 !
though, right, i know from LOTR experience that 3h30 is a long time to stay in theater, but, hey who cares! And an extended edition can be made with dvd. Or, why not two 1h30 movies.
Since I would like it to be ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’, instead of ‘Hermione Granger and the Deathly Hallows’, I have to say that I would like a new director to direct the last movie.
I think Cuaron is great, and visually PoA is very beautiful and it has great things, as a movie I think it is the best one, but as an adaptation, I missed many things, I think he is too focused on Hermione. I’ll never forget how when the most beautiful moment between Harry and Sirius was happening, he put Hermione there and a stupid line that didn’t add anything. And the same happened in OotP movie…
PoA should have been focused on Harry, Sirius and Lupin.
I soo hope that WB won’t ask him back. I will say that cinematically POA was beautiful, but to me what was cut out was unbearable. The loss of the explanation of the marauders and the quickie scene in the shreiking shack were such a shame, especially put up with what was added to it… i.e. a werewolf chase scene? Oh and let’s not mention the non-existant extra scenes for the DVD. Didn’t Cuaron once say that the decisions for what to shoot and not shoot were made on set, thus they really didn’t shoot anything extra? That in itself is disappointing to me.
As to Yates, I love OOTP though I still lament WB for telling Yates to cut 45 minutes of it. But with the time he had he told a wonderful story, deep with emotion. Yes there were aspects that could have been better, this is true for all the films, but I think Yates captured the characters and the storyline beautifully. I can’t wait though to see the DVD and see what he had to cut for timing.
Personally if Yates does well with HBP I think he should stay on. Truthfully the only one I’m worried about is WB itself saying that the films need to be shorter. DH needs to be at least 3 hours, and I just hope WB gets that through their heads. Every death needs to be there, and done well, every action sequence, every character. This is the one where they cannot afford to cut and they may have to add details to make up for what’s been cut in previous films.
No, sorry, no. I’m afraid I think the ruined PoA. It was my favorite of the books until HBP, and I couldn’t believe he left out the business about who Prongs was. My first thought after seeing the movie was, “My gosh! Anyone who hadn’t read the book would have thought that Harry had gone insane thinking that stag was his dad. They’d have been completely lost.”That was a major plot point, and it would have taken about 60 seconds to explain: VERY bad decision. My vote: Mike Newell (!) or Yates (if he will do it—3 in a row is a lot to expect of someone who isn’t actually part of the franchise). I adored Jackson’s LotR, but he, Fran, and Phillipa loved that book which kept them, I think, from turning it into “Horror in Elfland.” I would worry about giving him DH for fear he would turn it into LotR II or a horror flick. For DH, it being the most important book in the series, I’d rather go with someone who has proven he understands.
Cuaron finally made a Harry Potter film that I could love. I hate watching the Chris Columbus films. It’s like watching one of those cheesy made for television Hallmark Classics movies.
However, I must say that although he’s the best filmmaker of the Harry Potter series so far, I’d rather see him do other things with his career. As much as I love the Potter movies, he has more to offer.
Ron came back five minutes later, carrying three foaming tankards of hot butterbeer... Harry drank deeply. It was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted and seemed to heat every bit of him from the inside.
You people don’t understand anything about movies, really. Poa film was never going to be like Poa book and viceversa. CUARON COME BACK AND SAVE US FROM YATES!