Alfonso Cuarón is a popular Mexican filmmaker, who is known for making some exceptional films like Roma, Great Expectations, The Disciple, Children of Men, and others. The director is known for making movies on numerous themes ranging from family drama, and romance to science-fiction. The director tried his hand at fantasy themes with a franchise of Harry Potter. It was a massive gamble for the producers of Daniel Radcliffe’s franchise, however, it proved to be a wise bet.

Alfonso Cuaron

Cuarón directed the third installment of the franchise, which turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the series. However, there were questions about the darker theme of the film, which were cleared by the director in an interview.

Alfonso Cuarón reveals the reason for the dark theme of Harry Potter 3

Chris Columbus had exited the franchise because he wanted to spend more time with his children. Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón took over to helm Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third film in the franchise.

A still from the Movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The tone in the film was a lot darker and brooding than the previous films. The Academy Award-winning filmmaker explained the reason for the theme. He revealed that the darker tone depicted Harry Potter turning into a teenager. He shared in Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special,

“For Azkaban, it’s a coming of age. They are passing the threshold between childhood and their teenage years. In the first two, Harry is still a child there is a greater optimism around the tone itself. Nevertheless, when the kid turns 13, there is a big cloud that overshadows everything around Harry, and we needed to convey that also stylistically.”

All the films in the franchise get darker and darker after the third installment, with the growing presence of Lord Voldemort. However, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban did not focus on Voldemort. There was only his minion, Peter Pettigrew, who had lived with the Weasleys for 12 years as their pet rat.

Alfonso Cuarón gave an essay assignment to the Harry Potter cast

As per the reports, when Alfonso Cuarón joined the team of Harry Potter; he gave a special task to the main cast to get them on board with his approach. He asked Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson to write an essay on their character. He shared in conversation with Mic,

“That was the most important piece of acting work that we did on Azkaban. Everything they put in those essays was going to be the pillars they were going to hold on to for the rest of the process.”

Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Watson and Radcliffe followed Cuarón’s request seriously and wrote the essay assignment. Emma Watson reportedly wrote a 16-page paper, describing things her character Hermione Granger would do. And Radcliffe, who stayed true to Harry Potter’s minimally studious nature, wrote a one-page essay.

However, Grint did not turn up the essay. Gravity film director recalled,

“Rupert didn’t deliver anything. He said, ‘Well, I thought that Ron wouldn’t do it.’”

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in 2004 and grossed $797 million worldwide. It is available for streaming on Max.