Alfonso Cuarón Recalls David Fincher’s Advice to Delay ‘Gravity’ for Tech Advances

Before Alfonso Cuarón won his first Academy Award for Best Director with the visually stunning space thriller “Gravity,” it was merely an idea he and his son Jonas developed, hoping to secure funding from studios. Over the weekend, ahead of receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, Cuarón shared details about the challenges he faced in bringing “Gravity” to life during a masterclass session held at the festival.

“After ‘Children of Men,’ which was a complete commercial flop with $70 million worldwide on a $76 million budget, the appetite to work with me plummeted,” Cuarón explained. “So I started writing and developing a film with my son. We began preparing a project with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Guillaume Canet, about a road trip from the South of France to the north of Scotland. It was very difficult to finance and the film fell apart. At the same time, I was going through the worst times in my personal life.”

Facing financial hardships, Cuarón told his collaborators he needed to continue working but needed a project that could secure studio funding. He remarked, “No arty shit.”

With the intent of finding a more commercially viable project, Cuarón and his son outlined and scripted “Gravity.” They presented the idea to Warner Bros., but the studio was reluctant to invest significant money. Adding to the difficulty, when Cuarón approached his frequent collaborator DP Emmanuel Lubezki, he realized the film would be more technologically ambitious than anticipated.

Seeking advice, he consulted director David Fincher, only to be further discouraged when Fincher advised, “Forget about it, there’s no tech, wait 6 years.” James Cameron suggested a way to achieve the film’s vision, but it would require a $400 million budget, a figure impractical for Cuarón. He shared, “Cameron told us how we could do it but that was a $400 million film. We told him only you can do that. And he said yeah you’re right. So we developed our own way.”

To capture the look and feel of space, Cuarón and Lubezki utilized Industrial Light & Magic’s LED-based StageCraft technology known as The Volume, combined with animation. “We developed the film over three or four years technologically,” Cuarón said, thanking a geeky executive for supporting their vision.

However, Warner Bros. insisted on testing “Gravity” with an audience before completing its complex VFX work. As Cuarón foresaw, the film initially tested poorly, leading to studio reservations. But he informed the audience at Locarno that film festivals played a crucial role in the movie’s success.

“It opened at Venice and the reception was amazing,” recalled Cuarón. “That’s when the studio started to love it.”

“Gravity” eventually garnered seven Academy Awards and earned $732 million at the box office, providing Cuarón the opportunity to pursue more personal projects, including his 2018 Spanish-language Oscar winner, “Roma.”

Source: Deadline