Producer David Heyman has finally explained why director Alfonso Cuarón didn’t come back for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire after directing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
If I had to pick my favorite Harry Potter movie, it’d be, easily, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third installment, where Alfonso Cuarón took over from Chris Columbus and let the characters grow up while pretty much doing whatever he wanted with them, giving us incredible scenes the rest of the saga could only dream of having.
But Cuarón chose not to return for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and a lot of us spent years wondering what happened there. All this time later, we finally know.
Cuaronus Directorus!
“You bastard.” That’s what Alfonso Cuarón said when, worn out after making the third film, they suggested he keep going, according to producer David Heyman: “We asked Alfonso if he wanted to do the fourth one, and he said, ‘You bastard.’ I think he was wrecked. I look at pictures of Alfonso back then (he’s one of my best friends and my son’s godfather, and I adore him) and he was exhausted.”
Really, if you go by Heyman’s version, there was never much of a chance of getting Alfonso Cuarón back: “Chris Columbus was like a kid, incredible. With Alfonso, he had nothing left to give. He said no.”
So, with Chris Columbus already out of the franchise after Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, they had to find someone else, and that’s how Mike Newell ended up joining the saga.
That question is going to come back around when HBO reaches Season 3: the film was so unique. Harry Potter, but with a deflated wand.
