QUESTION: What sort of input, if any, did you get from “Harry Potter” author, J.K. Rowling?
ALFONSO CUARÓN: The first thing she told me was don’t be literal with this book. Be faithful to the spirit of the book, but don’t try to be literal. She has such a great respect for the filmmaking process, and she’s not the type of person who is going to say “I like” or “I dislike.” She would say “that makes sense in this universe” or “that doesn’t make sense.”
Q: Did she hang out on the set? AC: No, not at all. She’s too busy writing books and being a mom.
Q: Were you surprised at being picked to direct “The Prisoner of Azkaban”?
AC: I was (very) surprised. I’ve done “A Little Princess” before, but my recent movie was a Mexican movie with quite a lot of sex. So in that sense, I think Warner Bros is so courageous. They have the biggest franchise in their history and they handed it to (me).
Q: Can we expect any racy scenes in the director’s cut of “Azkaban?”
AC: (Laughs). Sure, but very quick. Do you have freeze frame in your remote control?
Q: This film is a bit darker than the previous two. Did the studio express any reservations about the shift in tone?
AC: If anything, I was encouraged to go even darker. The amazing thing is, I had such a creative freedom here. In Scotland, we had bad weather and we fell behind in the schedule. I talked to (an executive) at the studio and said in order to catch up, I might cut such-and-such scenes. He told me not to ever think schedule here. He didn’t want me to make any decision that wasn’t a creative one. I was as free doing this movie as I was doing my previous ones, and I feel very lucky.
Q: How much exposure did you have to “Harry Potter” before signing on to make this movie?
AC: I hadn’t read the books, and I hadn’t seen the movies. I knew about Harry Potter, obviously, but for some reason I was not into it. I didn’t know what it was about — I thought it was something really silly.
Q: What changed your impression? AC: I got the script and read it. Then I read the book, and I thought I better do this. It’s so awesome, and so layered. I don’t care if they are wizards, they have real human emotions. You don’t need to see this just as an adventure, you can see it as a metaphor about racism, classism, power, friendship and loneliness.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 4, 2004. Read the original PDF.