Alfonso Cuarón’s thriller from 2013 Gravity Audiences were captivated by the human dramas and visual feast. Cuarón revealed that the film almost failed because of its ambitious (and expensive) concept.

Director Alfonso Cuarón recalled the biggest breakthroughs of his career while hosting a masterclass at the Locarno Film Festival. Deadline reported that a highlight of the segment was his remarks on Gravitythe 2013 space thriller starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock; Cuarón said technical and financial hurdles had stalled production of the film, and industry colleagues even suggested the project should be shelved.(David) Fincher told us to forget itthere is no technology, wait 6 years,” he confirmed. “And he was not wrong. James Cameron told us how to do it, but that was a $400 million movie. We told him only you can do it. And he said, yes, you’re right. So we developed our own path.” Cuarón’s determination made the film one of the critical and box office hits of 2013.

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Cuarón revealed how Gravity was more than a passion project; he said the film “saved his life” after a major disappointment in his career. “After Children of menwhich was a complete commercial flop, the desire to work with me had plummeted,” he recalls. “So I started writing and developing a film with my son. I started preparing and the cast included Charlotte Gainsbourg and Guillaume Canet. It was about a road trip from the south of France to the north of Scotland. The financing was very difficult and the film fell apart. At the same time, I was going through the worst times in my personal life.”

Development hurdles plagued gravity

The director said he was broke at the time and needed to “write something, but not art stuff,” something “that a studio could write me a check for.” “That same evening we worked out the outline of Gravity,” he added. Warner Bros. was interested in the script but did not want to finance it. He presented the concept to cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Children of men, Birdman, The Revenant), who realized that the film could not be made with the technology available at the time. They then turned to Fincher and Cameron, who both suggested putting the film on hold until it was feasible.

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Cuarón continued with Lubezki as cinematographer. “We technically developed the film for three or four years,” Cuarón said. “Thank God we had an exec who was a real nerd.” Warner Bros. wanted test screenings of the rough cut, which was panned for its unfinished visual effects. Cuarón said the film festivals helped Warner Bros. get excited about the project. “It opened in Venice and the response was overwhelming,” he said. “That’s when the studio started to love it.” Filming for Gravity combined animation with live-action camerawork using Industrial Light & Magic’s StageCraft technology, which recently made headlines when The Volume in The Mandalorian Series.

Source: Deadline

Gravity

Two astronauts work together to survive after an accident leaves them stranded in space.

director

Alfonso Cuaron

Release date

October 4, 2013

studio

Warner Bros.

Pour

Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris

Authors

Alfonso Cuaron, Jonas Cuaron

Duration

1 hour 31 minutes

producer

David Heyman, Alfonso Cuaron

Production company

Warner Bros., Esperanto Filmoj, Heyday Films

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