Cuarón tells Busan he was reluctant to take Harry Potter, then loved it
Alfonso Cuarón did not want to direct Harry Potter at first. He now calls it two of the most beautiful years of his life.
The Oscar-winning director spoke about that turn during the Busan International Film Festival, where he made his first trip to South Korea alongside his son, Jonás Cuarón, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Cuarón said he was "a little reluctant to do it" when the offer came to direct Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third film in the series about the boy wizard. He changed his mind. Then he stayed for two years.
Those two years changed how he works. Cuarón said he arrived with no real knowledge of visual effects, the computer-built images and worlds added after filming. After Potter, he said, the process was "like second nature."
It also changed what he could get made. He told the audience he had already written Children of Men, his 2006 thriller about a bleak future without children, before Potter. Nobody wanted to make it. After Potter, he could.
The remarks came during a busy visit to Busan. The 31st edition of the festival runs Oct. 6-15, 2026, at the Busan Cinema Center and other venues, according to its press office. Cuarón attended an Imax screening of Gravity, his space drama, then sat for a master class billed as "The Cinematic Visions of Alfonso CUARÓN."
The session was moderated by Korean director Yeon Sang-ho, best known internationally for the zombie thriller Train to Busan. The two became acquaintances after that film's success. Cuarón later served as executive producer, a senior backing and advisory role, on Yeon's 2025 mystery thriller Revelations.
Jonás Cuarón had his own reason to be in Busan. He presented his feature Campeón Gabacho at the festival.
At the master class, the elder Cuarón described a working method built on heavy preparation and room to adapt. He prepares extensively, he said, but reality shapes the film, comparing filmmaking to life's process.
What makes this stand out is the straight line he drew between the jobs. A big franchise film taught him the tools. The tools helped unlock the smaller, personal project he had carried for years.
