Alfonso Cuarón
- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Alfonso Cuarón Orozco was born on November 28th 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico.
From an early age, he yearned to be either a film director or an
astronaut. However, he did not want to enter the army, so he settled
for directing. He didn't receive his first camera until his twelfth
birthday, and then immediately started to film everything he saw,
showing it afterwards to everyone. In his teen years, films were his
hobby. Sometimes he said to his mother he would go to a friend's home,
when in fact he would go to the cinema. His ambition was to know every
theatre in the city. Near his house there were two studios, Studios
Churubusco and Studios 212. After finishing school, Cuarón decided to
study cinema right away. He tried to study at C.C.C. (Centro de
Capacitación Cinematográfica) but wasn't accepted because at that time
they weren't accepting students under twenty-four years old. His mother
didn't support that idea of cinema, so he studied philosophy in the
morning and in the afternoon he went to the C.U.E.C. (Centro
Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos). During that time he met
many people who would later become his collaborators and friends. One
of them was Luis Estrada. Cuaron
also became good friends with
Carlos Marcovich and
Emmanuel Lubezki. Luis Estrada directed
a short called "Vengance is Mine", on which Alfonso and Emmanuel
collaborated. The film was in English, a fact which bothered many
teachers of the C.U.E.C. such as
Marcela Fernández Violante.
The disagreement caused such arguments that in 1985, Alfonso was
expelled from the university.
During his time studying at C.U.E.C. he met
Mariana Elizondo, and with her he had
his first son, Jonás Cuarón. After Alfonso
was expelled, he thought he could never be a director and so went on to
work in a Museum so he could sustain his family. One day,
José Luis García Agraz and
Fernando CáMara went to the museum and made an offer to Cuarón. They
asked him to work as cable person in
"La víspera (1982)", a job which was
to prove to be his salvation. After that he was assistant director in
Garcia Agraz's "Nocaut (1984)", as well as
numerous other films.
He was also second unit director in
"Gaby: A True Story (1987)",
and co-wrote and directed some episodes in the series
"A Hora Marcada (1967)". One
New Year's Eve, he decided he would not continue to be an assistant
director, and with his brother Carlos started writing what would be his
first feature film:
"Love in the Time of Hysteria (1991)"
(Love in the time of Hysteria). After the screenplay was written, the
problem became how to get financial backing for the movie. I.M.C.I.N.E.
(Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia), which supports movies
financially, had already decided which projects it would support that
year, much to Alfonso's initial chagrin. However, the director of one
of those already-chosen projects was unable to direct it, so his
project was canceled, and "Sólo con tu pareja" took its place. Despite
this being chosen, there was a lot of tension between Alfonso and the
I.M.C.I.N.E. executives. Nevertheless, after the movie was finished, it
was a huge success. In Toronto festival the films won many awards, and
Alfonso started to be noticed by Hollywood producers.
Sydney Pollack was the first one to
invite him to shoot in Hollywood. He proposed a feature film to be
directed by Alfonso, but the project didn't work and was canceled.
Alfonso moved to Los Angeles without anything concrete, and stayed with
some friends, as he had no money. Soon after that, Pollack called him
again to direct an episode called
"Murder, Obliquely (1993)"
of the series
"Fallen Angels (1993)", that
was the first job he had in U.S., and also the first time he worked
with Alan Rickman.
After a while, and no real directing jobs, Alfonso wanted to direct
something as he needed money. He finally signed a contract with Warner
Brothers to direct the film
Addicted to Love (1995).
However, one night, he read the screenplay for another film,
A Little Princess (1995) and
fell in love with it. He talked to Warner Brothers and after some
meetings he gave up directing "Addicted to Love" in order to do "A
Little Princess". Even thought it wasn't a great box office success,
the film received two nominations for the Oscars, and won many other
awards. After "A Little Princess" Alfonso developed a project with
Richard Gere starring. The project was
canceled, but Cuarón got an offer from Twentieth Century Fox to direct
the modern adaptation of the Charles Dickens' classic
Great Expectations (1998). He
initially didn't want to direct it but the studio insisted, and in the
end he accepted it. The experience was very painful and difficult for
him mainly because there was never a definitive screenplay.
He then reunited with producer
Jorge Vergara and founded both
Anhelo Productions and Moonson Productions. Anhelo's first picture was
also Alfonso's next film, the erotic road movie
"And Your Mother Too (2001)",
which was a huge success. During the promotion of the film in Venice,
Alfonso met the cinema critic
Annalisa Bugliani. They started dating
and married that same year.
"Children of Men (2006)" was to
be Alfonso's next film, a futuristic, dystopian story. During the
pre-production of the film, Warner Brothers invited Alfonso to direct
the third Harry Potter film,
"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)",
an offer which he accepted after some consideration. The film would
prove to be the greatest box office success of his career.
In 2003, he had a daughter named
Bu Cuaron, and in February 2005
another son, called Olmo Teodoro Cuarón. Alfonso Cuarón signed a
three-year first-look deal with Warner Brothers, which allowed his
films to be distributed world-wide. He directed one five-minute segment of the anthology film Paris, I Love You (2006)
with Nick Nolte and
Ludivine Sagnier. His next project, the
futuristic film
Children of Men (2006) with
Clive Owen,
Julianne Moore and
Michael Caine premiered at the
Venice Film Festival in 2006 having been nominated for three Academy
Awards. After his youngest son was diagnosed with autism and the
divorce from Annalisa Bugliani he took a break from directing and
settled in London where he plans to work on his next projects.
In 2013, Alfonso directed the space thriller
Gravity (2013), which would go win 7
academy awards.
Alfonso is the only filmmaker to have ever won twice for a clean sweep for the awards, for "Gravity" and "Roma", for Best Director at the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and DGA Awards.
From an early age, he yearned to be either a film director or an
astronaut. However, he did not want to enter the army, so he settled
for directing. He didn't receive his first camera until his twelfth
birthday, and then immediately started to film everything he saw,
showing it afterwards to everyone. In his teen years, films were his
hobby. Sometimes he said to his mother he would go to a friend's home,
when in fact he would go to the cinema. His ambition was to know every
theatre in the city. Near his house there were two studios, Studios
Churubusco and Studios 212. After finishing school, Cuarón decided to
study cinema right away. He tried to study at C.C.C. (Centro de
Capacitación Cinematográfica) but wasn't accepted because at that time
they weren't accepting students under twenty-four years old. His mother
didn't support that idea of cinema, so he studied philosophy in the
morning and in the afternoon he went to the C.U.E.C. (Centro
Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos). During that time he met
many people who would later become his collaborators and friends. One
of them was Luis Estrada. Cuaron
also became good friends with
Carlos Marcovich and
Emmanuel Lubezki. Luis Estrada directed
a short called "Vengance is Mine", on which Alfonso and Emmanuel
collaborated. The film was in English, a fact which bothered many
teachers of the C.U.E.C. such as
Marcela Fernández Violante.
The disagreement caused such arguments that in 1985, Alfonso was
expelled from the university.
During his time studying at C.U.E.C. he met
Mariana Elizondo, and with her he had
his first son, Jonás Cuarón. After Alfonso
was expelled, he thought he could never be a director and so went on to
work in a Museum so he could sustain his family. One day,
José Luis García Agraz and
Fernando CáMara went to the museum and made an offer to Cuarón. They
asked him to work as cable person in
"La víspera (1982)", a job which was
to prove to be his salvation. After that he was assistant director in
Garcia Agraz's "Nocaut (1984)", as well as
numerous other films.
He was also second unit director in
"Gaby: A True Story (1987)",
and co-wrote and directed some episodes in the series
"A Hora Marcada (1967)". One
New Year's Eve, he decided he would not continue to be an assistant
director, and with his brother Carlos started writing what would be his
first feature film:
"Love in the Time of Hysteria (1991)"
(Love in the time of Hysteria). After the screenplay was written, the
problem became how to get financial backing for the movie. I.M.C.I.N.E.
(Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia), which supports movies
financially, had already decided which projects it would support that
year, much to Alfonso's initial chagrin. However, the director of one
of those already-chosen projects was unable to direct it, so his
project was canceled, and "Sólo con tu pareja" took its place. Despite
this being chosen, there was a lot of tension between Alfonso and the
I.M.C.I.N.E. executives. Nevertheless, after the movie was finished, it
was a huge success. In Toronto festival the films won many awards, and
Alfonso started to be noticed by Hollywood producers.
Sydney Pollack was the first one to
invite him to shoot in Hollywood. He proposed a feature film to be
directed by Alfonso, but the project didn't work and was canceled.
Alfonso moved to Los Angeles without anything concrete, and stayed with
some friends, as he had no money. Soon after that, Pollack called him
again to direct an episode called
"Murder, Obliquely (1993)"
of the series
"Fallen Angels (1993)", that
was the first job he had in U.S., and also the first time he worked
with Alan Rickman.
After a while, and no real directing jobs, Alfonso wanted to direct
something as he needed money. He finally signed a contract with Warner
Brothers to direct the film
Addicted to Love (1995).
However, one night, he read the screenplay for another film,
A Little Princess (1995) and
fell in love with it. He talked to Warner Brothers and after some
meetings he gave up directing "Addicted to Love" in order to do "A
Little Princess". Even thought it wasn't a great box office success,
the film received two nominations for the Oscars, and won many other
awards. After "A Little Princess" Alfonso developed a project with
Richard Gere starring. The project was
canceled, but Cuarón got an offer from Twentieth Century Fox to direct
the modern adaptation of the Charles Dickens' classic
Great Expectations (1998). He
initially didn't want to direct it but the studio insisted, and in the
end he accepted it. The experience was very painful and difficult for
him mainly because there was never a definitive screenplay.
He then reunited with producer
Jorge Vergara and founded both
Anhelo Productions and Moonson Productions. Anhelo's first picture was
also Alfonso's next film, the erotic road movie
"And Your Mother Too (2001)",
which was a huge success. During the promotion of the film in Venice,
Alfonso met the cinema critic
Annalisa Bugliani. They started dating
and married that same year.
"Children of Men (2006)" was to
be Alfonso's next film, a futuristic, dystopian story. During the
pre-production of the film, Warner Brothers invited Alfonso to direct
the third Harry Potter film,
"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)",
an offer which he accepted after some consideration. The film would
prove to be the greatest box office success of his career.
In 2003, he had a daughter named
Bu Cuaron, and in February 2005
another son, called Olmo Teodoro Cuarón. Alfonso Cuarón signed a
three-year first-look deal with Warner Brothers, which allowed his
films to be distributed world-wide. He directed one five-minute segment of the anthology film Paris, I Love You (2006)
with Nick Nolte and
Ludivine Sagnier. His next project, the
futuristic film
Children of Men (2006) with
Clive Owen,
Julianne Moore and
Michael Caine premiered at the
Venice Film Festival in 2006 having been nominated for three Academy
Awards. After his youngest son was diagnosed with autism and the
divorce from Annalisa Bugliani he took a break from directing and
settled in London where he plans to work on his next projects.
In 2013, Alfonso directed the space thriller
Gravity (2013), which would go win 7
academy awards.
Alfonso is the only filmmaker to have ever won twice for a clean sweep for the awards, for "Gravity" and "Roma", for Best Director at the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and DGA Awards.