Alfonso Cuarón talks 3D in films, next project at Beijing Film Festival

Alfonso Cuarón, the acclaimed director who back in March won the Academy Award for Best Director for his film Gravity and helmed the third installment in the Potter film series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, has provided his thoughts on the current trend of 3D films at the Beijing International Film Festival.

Cuarón said,

I love 3D, but I think that a film has to be conceived as a 3D film. The big majority of the films that you see in 3D in the West are commercial afterthoughts and are absolutely dreadful.

They don’t deliver a good 3D experience — they just make the whole experience of watching a movie really tiresome. I enjoy when 3D is done in an organic way. 3D as a tool is to be used when it’s needed, not all the time.

He added that he believes 3D can “really complement and enhance a spectacle,” but “the best way to do that is to design and plan a film for it.”

He also admitted in the interview that he had initial concerns when making Gravity:

Gravity as a film was not supposed to be commercial — it’s not as if I [were] trying to make a non-commercial film, but from everybody’s standpoint and concerns, this film was not going to work. From our test screenings, we were told that audiences were not going to like the film, so at the end you never know, and the only thing you can do is defend what you think is right.

For his next project, Cuarón is intrigued about possibly making a simple drama in 3D, and he spoke with fondness of returning to the values of his breakthrough movie Y tu mamá también. 

Coming from a movie like Gravity with big visual effects, I would like to do something without visual effects. Just a camera and actors and something smaller and more immediate. You’re talking with someone who just came from a banquet, who ate a lot, and you’re asking what he wants for dinner. At this point I’m saying [that] I want something very light, but maybe in a few hours I’ll say, ‘Give me another big meal.’

Do you share Alfonso’s views on 3D films? Are you looking forward to his next project? Let us know in the comments.