“Only you can do that”: the Oscar-winning movie made in spite of James Cameron’s advice
As one of the ‘Three Amigos’ alongside Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón has made huge contributions to cinema. With Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, he took the beloved franchise into more mature territory and set it up for the monstrous success it would obtain in later years. Children of Men is one of the most harrowing films ever made, and in 2019, he joined an exclusive club of two-time ‘Best Director’ winners at the Academy Awards when he was awarded the prize for Roma.
His first taste of Oscar glory came in 2014 when he won ‘Best Director’ for his work on Gravity. The tale of a woman (Sandra Bullock) sent adrift into the emptiness of space captured hearts and minds around the world, particularly through its gorgeous visuals and masterful deployment of practical and visual effects. However, if some of Cuarón’s colleagues had gotten their way, this movie might never have happened.
In an interview with IndieWire, the Mexican director explained that when he was planning Gravity, both David Fincher and James Cameron told him that his ambitions were too high. “Fincher told us to forget about it, there’s no tech, wait six years. And he wasn’t wrong,” he said. “James Cameron told us how we could do it but that was a $400million film. We told him, ‘Only you can do that.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ So we developed our own way.”
Gravity came about when an idea Cuarón had for an entirely different project fell through. “I started writing and developing a film with my son,” he revealed. “I started prepping, and the cast featured Charlotte Gainsbourg and Guillaume Canet. It was 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.”
With barely a dollar to his name, Cuarón went searching for a job that would “let a studio give me a check.” In his own words, he wanted “no arty shit”.
The movie, which was inspired by a 1969 film called Marooned with a similar premise, was a gruelling labour. “We developed the film over three or four years technologically,” Cuarón revealed. Around 90% of the movie’s runtime consists of special effects designed to realistically convey what it’s like to be in outer space. Jim Lovell, commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission (played by Tom Hanks in the Ron Howard movie), called Gravity “a marvellous creation of cinematography”. High praise indeed from someone who was actually there.
Visual effects for the project were created by British company Framestore and overseen by chief creative officer Tim Webber. His other credits include The Dark Knight and Avatar, and he had previously worked with Cuarón on Children of Men. Gravity delivered him an Oscar for ‘Best Visual Effects’, one of seven victories that night. From a financial standpoint, the movie over-delivered, grossing over $700million worldwide on a budget of around $100m, which is far less than James Cameron predicted.
From rock bottom to the highest of highs, Gravity marks an incredible journey for Cuarón, one that might never have happened if he’d listened to Fincher or Cameron. When it comes to creativity, there is nothing more important than self-belief, and Cuarón has the Oscars to prove it.
