Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron has stated that he really wants to make a horror film but finds it difficult to write one.
The Mexican filmmaker spoke as part of the Locarno Film Festival’s Masterclass series and answered numerous questions about his career so far, but was also very open about his future projects.
“My goal is to make a horror film one day,” said Cuarón at the Spazio Cinema open-air cinema in Locarno.
“I love Rosemary’s Baby and the other Polanski films and films like The Babadook. They’re so grounded in reality and characters, that’s why I love them,” he continued. “As a viewer, I have broader tastes, but anything I could do would have to be more grounded.”
But Cuarón doesn’t just dream of making a horror film. He just found it difficult to put one together. He said: “I tried to write something like that, but somehow it didn’t quite work.”
Alfonso Cuarón’s story gives hope for a horror film
But Cuarón has overcome obstacles before. During the conversation, he spoke about the struggles that led to his comeback hit “Gravity” in 2013. He recalled being told his vision for the film was impossible to achieve with the technology available at the time, and people like David Fincher and James Cameron tried to dissuade him at the time.
But Cuarón managed to create a spectacular space disaster film through visual tricks, animation and more.
“Fincher told us to forget it, there’s no technology, let’s wait six years. And he wasn’t wrong,” Cuarón said. “James Cameron told us how we could do it, but this was a $400 million movie. We told him only he could do it. And he said, yes, you’re right. So we developed our own way.”
Although Cuarón has yet to make a horror film, there are darker elements in his work that suggest he is well versed in the genre. The dystopian films Children of Men and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban offer promising glimpses.
Cuarón has been nominated for 10 Oscars and won the Oscar for Best Director in 2018 for the drama Roma. His current project is the Apple TV+ series Disclaimer, starring Cate Blanchett.
