Directing a film in the saga of Harry Potter in the early 2000s was an honor but also a burden not to be underestimated: after the first two installments, Chris Columbus handed over the field to Alfonso Cuarón and Mike Newell, before the feature films settled in the hands of David Yates. Appearing on the Harry Potter Official Film Podcast, veteran producer David Heyman, executive producer also of the upcoming HBO Max TV series for Christmas, spoke about the stress faced by these directors, or rather by one in particular. Hogwarts wears you down, it seems.
Alfonso Cuarón Walked Away from the Fourth Harry Potter; He Was Exhausted
Chris Columbus left the directing chair of the Harry Potter saga after Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). According to producer David Heyman, “he had the enthusiasm of a boy, but he wanted to bring his family back to America. He would fly to San Francisco every weekend during preproduction: he would leave everything on Friday and fly back on Sunday [in England, ed.], ready for Monday. He didn’t want to be far from them.” For this reason they looked for a new director for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), settling on Alfonso Cuarón, who had never tackled a feature of such magnitude in his life. He did it with his head held high, but then… “We asked Alfonso whether he wanted to do the fourth and he replied only: Cabrón! I think he was absolutely exhausted. If I look at his photos from that time… he’s one of my best friends, he was the godfather of my son. But when I see him then, he was really exhausted.” If Cuarón suffered through the third installment, imagine what Mike Newell had to endure for the far more epic fourth installment Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), a two-and-a-half-hour blockbuster: no surprise, even the veteran director of Four Weddings and a Funeral was “absolutely wrecked.” The mood shifted with the stoic David Yates, a television veteran, who from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) remained the head of the saga until the end. I wonder how Mark Mylod will fare directing the first season of the HBO Max series, a meticulous and thorough adaptation of the entire first novel…
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