Alfonso Cuaron

[MacGuffin]

Actor Owen to Labor for 'Children'

Clive Owen, whose supporting performance in "Closer" earned him an Oscar nomination, has signed on to topline "Children of Men" for Strike Entertainment and Universal Pictures.

Alfonso Cuaron ("Y tu mama tambien," "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban") is directing the feature film adaptation of the book by mystery writer by P.D. James.

"Children of Men" takes place in the near future, when mankind has lost the ability to procreate and the world is rocked by the news that the youngest person on Earth -- who is 18 years old -- has died. As chaos erupts, a former radical (Owen) becomes protector of the most sought-after person on the planet -- the first pregnant woman in almost 20 years.

The project initially was scripted by Paul Chart and then rewritten by Mark Fergus and Hawk Otsby. Cuaron had rewritten it with his writing partner Timothy Sexton and David Arata.

[Pubrick]

so much for the History of Love, Life of Pi, the Memory of Running, and Mexico '68.

he's like the mexican shekhar kapur. even tho i said kapur was like the indian Iñárritu.  

[matt35mm]

Oh crap, I told a friend that Shymalan was directing Life of Pi.  Now he's gonna think I lied.

What's a Mexican doing being in talks to direct this?  Psh.

I take my words back.  I would like to see anything this Mexican directs.

I just saw A Little Princess and I think it might possibly be the best movie ever made.

I wholeheartedly look forward to "Children of Men."

[Pozer]

He's definitely a MexiCAN and not a MexiCAN'T.

[MacGuffin]

Fame goes to film director Cuaron's heart not head

Fame has not gone to Mexican film director Alfonso Cuaron's head but to his heart.

Oscar nominee Cuaron, whose movies include critical hit "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and box office smash "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," is using his new prestige to support younger filmmakers by acting as a producer of their movies.

He says its keeps him close to cutting-edge talent making fresh and relevant movies, and for the filmmakers, putting his name and his company, Esperanto Films, above a title gives it a world-class seal of approval which lures fans to theaters.

Cuaron's latest show of support is for fellow Mexican director Fernando Eimbcke's comedy "Duck Season," which opens on Friday in U.S. theaters. The film covers one afternoon in the lives of two Mexican teen-agers spending the day at home.

"I'm reaching an age," begins the 44-year-old Cuaron, "and I've been following and trying to emulate the old masters for all my life. And there's a moment in which you need to push the energy of a new generation, and the questioning of a new generation and the times that a new generation is absorbing."

Cuaron is backing up-and-coming talents like Eimbcke, who has yet to make a name for himself on the world stage as Cuaron did. "Duck Season" is 35-year-old Eimbcke's first feature-length film. It has won numerous awards including 11 Ariels, Mexico's top movie honors given by the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematograficas. The movie is planned for release in some 30 countries eventually.

CINEMATIC VISION

What sets "Duck Season" apart is Eimbcke's vision. In many movies, the director's vision becomes secondary to the movie's plot, characters and dialogue, but in "Duck Season," those elements are married together in service of Eimbcke's idea of what the movie should be, Cuaron said.

"The narrative is hostage to the cinematic vision, and when that happens, poetry springs out," Cuaron said.

Like most boys at home on a day away from school, Flama and Moko, both 14, spend time playing video games, but when the electricity goes off in their apartment, they are forced to find other ways to occupy their day.

The pair time a pizza delivery, and when it comes 11 seconds beyond the promised 30 minutes, Flama demands a free meal. A neighbor Rita, 16, comes over to bake a cake, and sexual tension develops between her and Moko.

It all seems harmless, but what audiences learn is the kids are largely ignored by their parents, causing them to be resentful and angry. The pizza delivery man, who stays through the day, feels as if his life has been a failure.

Much of what is revealed comes not through plot or dialogue, but in the characters' actions as when the boys fire pellets at decorations Flama's mother has put on shelves.

Eimbcke filmed the movie in black-and-white to give it a simple and natural look that offsets the complex emotions of the characters.

'DUCK SEASON' AROUND THE WORLD

Cuaron said there are lessons to be learned for all world cultures -- not just Mexico -- in the day's adventures for Flama, Moko, Rita and the pizza delivery man.

"It's proof that human behavior is the same no matter the language, no matter the culture," he said.

And he is looking even further down the road at younger filmmakers, saying that people in their late teens and early 20s possess a "fearless" attitude about filmmaking because computers and technology have evolved to a point where they can easily make short movies.

"For them, cinema is something that is already in their blood, and they don't ask for permission to do things, they just pick up a little camera and go and do stuff," he said.

While Cuaron has taken an active role in promoting other filmmakers, he continues to work on his own projects.

He has co-written and directed a film, "The Children of Men," about a former social activist who aids a pregnant woman whose child may help scientists save mankind.

It is due in theaters in September.

After that, he said, "it's time for a big siesta."

[MacGuffin]

Children of Men
Serenity's Ejiofor comments on the Cuaron Film.

You may not be able to pronounce it yet, but the name Chiwetel Ejiofor is starting to gain recognition in Hollywood. Serenity fans will likely recognize the actor as The Operative in the feature film. A few of his other credits include the recent Spike Lee hit, The Inside Man as well as Melinda and Melinda, Four Brothers and Love Actually.

At a recent interview for the new film Kinky Boots by director Julian Jarrold, IGN FilmForce had the chance to ask the actor about his work on Alfonso Cuaron's (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) upcoming film, Children of Men.

Ejiofor explains the plot: "It's sort of set a short time in the future with general sort of political societal collapses as well as these issues of fertility that have created a very enraged and complex society, and it's based on the Peter James novel. Alfonso, I think, has adapted and written a terrific script, and a really good cast of people have come together to shoot the film. And I think he's an amazing director. And I think the work that we were doing on the film is just exceptional. It's one of those things that I don't think anybody's ever really seen before…in terms of a visual sense, and the nature of the way he's pulled out characterizations and so on, I think, is very unique, so it would be an intriguing time… I think it's really going to be quite interesting to see when it comes out."

"I play, along with Julianne Moore, the heads of an anti-government group that is sort of existing on the fringes of society, and we sort of try to get the allegiance of Clive Owens' character."
 
Serenity and Children both have futuristic themes, but Ejiofor says the similarities end there. "I mean, Serenity was different in the sense that it was a very kind of broad, operatic science fiction with all the great stuff that that has. And this is much more...it almost feels like a drama that just has a scientific, or a sci-fi touch because it's set in the future, but could easily be set in the present. So they were very distinct in that sense, and there's not that kind of idea of loads of green screen and massive wires. You know, there's not that kind of operatic science fiction feel to it...to Children of Men."

[MacGuffin]

Cuarón Fans Prepare to Travel Back in TIME
Director Alfonso Cuarón has made quite a name for himself in both English and Spanish language cinema, but American audiences have yet to see his first film, until now.
By FilmStew.com

A movie by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón will make its US debut at a tribute to the filmmaker at the Lincoln Center in New York City this month, but it's not a new picture. Daily Variety reports US audiences will get their first look at Love in the Time of Hysteria, his 1991 debut film which was never released in the US. The film will also be released on DVD by the Criterion Collection the same day. 

Cuarón's films include the critically acclaimed retelling of the children's book A Little Princess, as well as an updated Great Expectations, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and the hit Spanish language comedy Y Tu Mama Tambien. His latest film, Children of Men screened over the weekend in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Love in a Time of Hysteria is a comedy about a nurse getting her revenge on a yuppie lothario by tampering with his medical records.

Cuarón says he's unsure what film he'll do next - probably a project in Mexico.

[MacGuffin]

Dialogue: Alfonso Cuaron
The filmmaker of "Children of Men" discusses the increasingly global movie business.
Source: Hollywood Reporter

It has been a remarkable year for Mexican filmmakers and especially for Alfonso Cuaron, who had two films in contention at this year's Oscars -- "Children of Men," which he co-wrote and directed, and "Pan's Labyrinth," which he produced. On the eve of receiving ShoWest's International Achievement in Filmmaking Award, he spoke with The Hollywood Reporter's Stephen Galloway about the increasingly global movie business.

The Hollywood Reporter: You have made films in Spanish and English; you have lived in New York, and now you live in London. Do you think of yourself as a Mexican filmmaker?
Alfonso Cuaron: My nation is cinema, and my language is film. I make films in film language, and where they are made and the flag are just a circumstance. That comes from (the fact that) human beings are human beings first, and after (that), they give them a passport. But actually, this is very symptomatic of the times we are living in. The world is getting muddled in the interacting of different languages, cultures, countries. It is getting more blurred all the time, the line between what is independent and mainstream and what is considered foreign and domestic.

THR: Is that a good or bad thing?
Cuaron: I think it is great. The diversity just triggers new ideas and new schemes and new formulas.

THR: But isn't there the danger that national distinctions and artistic distinctions will disappear and film will become more homogenized?
Cuaron: Probably, but at this point, it is a beautiful breath of fresh air and breaking the homogenous aspect of cinema. It is bringing to the mainstream table different tendencies -- and you can see this with (the mix of Oscar nominees): "Babel" and "Pan's Labyrinth" were interacting with "The Departed." So, at this point, it is very good. But this is not defending globalization; those are two different issues. In the arts, it is a positive expression of this phenomenon; and at this point, it is the opposite of homogeneity.

THR: How does working in Hollywood fit into that?
Cuaron: The danger is to consider Hollywood a goal and destination. Hollywood can be part of the journey, but it would be terrible to think of Mexican filmmakers thinking how to make it in Hollywood. The amazing lesson this year from British cinema, for instance, is that they had their greatest success by not doing things the Hollywood way. They had been sleeping so close to Hollywood, trying to attract the Hollywood mainstream audience by formulating movies that they believe are going to be American-friendly, then this year the films that are honestly British are the ones that have been nominated for Academy Awards, like "The Queen" and "The Last King of Scotland." They are not trying to play into the "let's see what is American-friendly" game. They are doing what is honest.

THR: Do you and your fellow Mexican filmmakers see yourselves resisting Hollywood like the French New Wave filmmakers?
Cuaron: It is not like a French wave in that there is not a manifesto; there is not a Cold War in the way that the Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) was against the "academy-ness" of French cinema. And there is much more diversity among (the current Mexican filmmakers). There are no more diverse filmmakers than Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guillermo del Toro.

THR: But the New Wave has clearly been an influence on you.
Cuaron: Oh, no, it has been one totally. But by the same token, (director Claude) Chabrol used to say, "There are no waves; there is only the ocean." Personally, I love the French New Wave, and it has been very influential on my life, but so has the German cinema of the '70s or the German silent cinema or Ernst Lubitsch or American cinema in the '50s.
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THR: The New Wave created the idea of the director as auteur. How does your work as a producer fit into that?
Cuaron: Sometimes you get the opportunity through your career to facilitate work for other people. But I like to produce the way I would love to be produced -- trying to create a space for the director. I believe the director is the one who calls the shots. I don't want to have a creative influence as a producer. I want to learn. And most of the movies I produced in the past are by first-time directors, to facilitate the path for new generations -- and for a more selfish reason: After all these years of trying to emulate and learn from the old masters, there is a point where if you keep doing that, you become very stiff, and you have to connect with the new masters and the new tendencies and the new ways of narrative. What is going to be the new cinema? I don't want to belong to the past; I want to belong to the future.

[MacGuffin]

GET SHOCKED BY ALFONSO CUARON
Source: CHUD

Naomi Klein's book No Logo is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the corporate driven world in which we live (and serve as serfs). Her new book looks promising and disturbing; Shock Doctrine explores how Milton Friedman's concepts of economic shock therapy – using natural and manmade catastrophes and society's stunned response to them as a way to push through policies that benefit the rich – has been recreating our world since 9/11, and how it has been used over the last fifty years.

Klein sent a copy of the book Alfonso Cuaron, hoping to get a blurb for the cover (she thought Children of Men explored issues similar to the book). Instead she ended up getting a short film, which is now playing at the Toronto Film Festival. Like most of you, I couldn't be there this week, but Klein has put the film online so that everyone can see it. It's a fantastic six minutes and change, put together by Cuaron and his son Jonas, which will remind you that film can be gripping and educating and cause outrage in equal measures. Why is agitprop a bad word anyway?


http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/short-film

[squints]

that's awesome.

[Kal]

that is a cool short... now... i read naomi klein books before and as well-written and interesting as they are, they dont necessarily show the truth. im not going to start a political discussion here, but some of the comparisons there are completely ridiculous. plus, both her and cuaron are making a lot of money with their work and other than this type of propaganda, i dont see them doing anything else to help the planet.

[MacGuffin]

Alfonso Cuaron Nixes 'Children Of Men' Sequel/Prequel And 'Umbrella Academy'
Source: MTV

"Children of Men" told a haunting apocalyptic tale of a world in which all women are infertile and mankind is slowly dying off. Clive Owen and Julianne Moore gave admirably restrained performances. Beautifully shot, combining the best elements of the sci-fi and thriller genres, "Children" was one of the finest films of 2006—and no one went to see it (the US gross didn't even cover half its $76 million budget).

Yet rumors of another "Children" installment have persisted, so writer/director Alfonso Cuarón spoke with MTV News to shoot down those rumors (as well as rumors he'll be directing an adaptation of emo comic series, "The Umbrella Academy"). Or rather, he spoke with us to mock the very idea of picking up the "Children" story where he left it, with both Owen and Moore's characters dead and the first baby born in years stowed away on a secret humanity-saving ship.

"'Children of Men 2,'" he cried. "The baby is back and he's mad!"

Okay, maybe not. But come on—there's really been talk of a prequel or sequel. "Yes," Cuarón said. "Will Ferrell is going to play the baby."

Well played, sir.

Nonetheless, David Eick, a writer/producer on "Battlestar Galactica," announced last March that he's adapting a version of "Children" for TV. Might that be happening on your watch, Mr. Cuarón?

"No, no, no," he insisted, adding with a laugh, "Maybe Guillermo [Del Toro] has an idea for a remake."

Okay, we're bummed, even as we (a) can't stop laughing and (b) respect his commitment not to muck up a brilliant movie with unnecessary or implausible new chapters. But Cuarón didn't stop bumming us out there. He also told MTV News he won't — as had been rumored — be directing an adaptation of the comic book series, "The Umbrella Academy," by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way.

"No," Cuarón informed us. "I like 'The Umbrella Academy' but I'm not associated with it."

Next up for the director is "A Boy and his Shoe," a road movie set in England, Scotland and France, which is currently casting, with filming set to begin in the spring.

[Stefen]

Reading these MTV news stories is brutal. They make my head explode.

A Boy and his Shoe sounds interesting. Like an England, Scotland and France version of Y Tu Mama Tambien.

[MacGuffin]

Alfonso Cuarón/J.J. Abrams Drama Lands At NBC With Pilot Production Commitment
BY NELLIE ANDREEVA | Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: In his foray into American television, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón has teamed with J.J. Abrams for a high-concept  drama, which just landed at NBC with a pilot production commitment. Cuarón is set to direct the pilot, which he will co-write with Mark Friedman (Home Of the Brave). It is about a girl in possession of a great gift/powers — which will come into their own in seven years — and the man who is sprung from prison to protect her from those trying to hunt her down .

Warner Bros. TV and Abrams' studio-based Bad Robot are producing the untitled project, with Abrams, Cuarón, Friedman and Bryan Burk executive producing and Kathy Lingg co-executive producing. The project reunites Friedman with Warner Bros. TV where he created the ABC drama series The Forgotten, co-produced by another top WBTV pod, Jerry Bruckheimer TV. Mexican-born Cuarón received Oscar nominations for writing Y Tu Mamá También and Children of Men, both of which he also directed. He also helmed Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban.

This marks the second sale and second pilot production commitment for Bad Robot this season, on the heels of the company re-upping with WBTV for three more years. At Fox, Bad Robot has a robot-cop drama written by Fringe showrunner J.H. Wyman. The company has three series on the air, departing critical darling Fringe, hot sophomore Person of Interest, and new NBC drama Revolution, which premiered to big ratings on Monday. Cuarón and Friedman are with UTA, Abrams recently signed with CAA.

[MacGuffin]

'Believe' TV Trailer: J.J. Abrams and Alfonso Cuarón Team for NBC

Both J.J. Abrams and Alfonso Cuarón are using the big screen this year to explore the expansive blackness of outer space — Abrams with last week's Star Trek Into Darkness, Cuarón with this fall's Gravity. For their first collaboration with each other, though, they'll be keeping things a bit more grounded.

The pair have teamed up for NBC's Believe, a hourlong sci-fi drama about a young superpowered girl (Johnny Sequoyah) and the death row inmate (Jake McLaughlin) broken out of jail to protect her.

Cuarón wrote and directed the pilot, and will serve as executive producer alongside Abrams. The first trailer isn't as stunning as we might hope from the combination of those two, honestly. The premise feels rather familiar, and the dialogue sounds clunky. It doesn't help that the video quality isn't great, either. But I have faith the actual series will at least be worth checking out.

The show will debut sometime during the 2013-2014 season.


Levitation, telekinesis, the ability to control nature, even predict the future... since she was two years old, Bo has had gifts she could neither fully understand nor control. Raised by a small group known as the "True Believers," the orphaned girl has been safeguarded from harmful outsiders who would use her forces for personal gain. But now that she is 10, her powers have become stronger, and the threat has grown more dangerous.

With her life and future now in jeopardy, the "Believers" turn to the only person they see fit to be her full-time protector. That is, once they break him out of jail. Tate, a wrongfully imprisoned death row inmate who's lost his will, is initially reluctant – until he witnesses one of her extraordinary abilities. Bo sees people for who they truly are... and who they may become.

Tate and Bo begin their journey, one in which trust must be earned. Traveling from city to city, every place they stop and everyone they meet will be changed forever. But they'll have to keep going to stay one step ahead of the sinister forces after Bo's power... because it will take a miracle to keep them safe forever.

The powers of a young girl may hold the fate of our world in "Believe," from executive producer J.J. Abrams ("Revolution," "Star Trek: Into Darkness") and executive producer/writer/director Alfonso Cuarón ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "Children of Men"). One-hour drama.