1990–1999: Rise to prominence in 1998. Cuarón began working on television in
Mexico, first as a technician and then as a director. His television work led to assignments as an assistant director for several film productions including
La Gran Fiesta (1985),
Gaby: A True Story (1987) and
Romero (1989). In 1991 he landed his first big-screen directorial assignment,
Sólo con tu pareja, a sex comedy about a womanizing businessman (played by
Daniel Giménez Cacho) who, after having sex with an attractive nurse, is fooled into believing he's contracted
AIDS. In addition to writing, producing and directing, Cuarón co-edited the film with Luis Patlán. The film, which also starred cabaret singer
Astrid Hadad and model/actress
Claudia Ramírez (with whom Cuarón was linked between 1989 and 1993) was a big hit in Mexico. After this success, director
Sydney Pollack hired Cuarón to direct an episode of
Fallen Angels, a series of
neo-noir stories produced for the
Showtime premium cable network in 1993; other directors who worked on the series included
Steven Soderbergh,
Jonathan Kaplan,
Peter Bogdanovich, and
Tom Hanks. The episode was entitled, "Murder, Obliquely" (1993) starring
Laura Dern,
Alan Rickman, and
Diane Lane. In 1995, Cuarón released his first feature film produced in the United States,
A Little Princess, an adaptation of
Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic
1905 novel of the same name. The film received critical acclaim with
Janet Maslin of
The New York Times declaring, "[the film] is a bright, beautiful and enchantingly childlike vision", one that "draw[s] its audience into the wittily heightened reality of a fairy tale" and "takes enough liberties to re-invent rather than embalm Miss Burnett's assiduously beloved story". The film went on to receive two
Academy Award nominations for
Best Cinematography and
Best Production Design. Cuarón's next feature was also a literary adaptation, a modernized version of
Charles Dickens's
Great Expectations starring
Ethan Hawke,
Gwyneth Paltrow, and
Robert De Niro. The film received mixed reviews. Russell Smith of
The Austin Chronicle did however praise the film writing, "What's truly intriguing about this film, though, is the stylishness with which Cuaron (A Little Princess) reinvents Dickens' hoary, often-remade tale. This
Great Expectations has a seductive, enchanting feel that has nothing to do with sweet, gauzy sentiments or calculatedly "magical" Hollywood imagery". Still,
Great Expectations managed to earn $55 million at the global box office, surpassing its $25 million production budget.
2000–2009: Career breakthrough and success . They worked together on
Children of Men. In 2001, Cuarón found himself returning to Mexico with a Spanish-speaking cast to film
Y tu mamá también, starring
Gael García Bernal,
Diego Luna and
Maribel Verdú. It was a provocative and controversial road comedy about two sexually obsessed teenagers who take an extended road trip with an attractive married woman who is much older than they. The film's open portrayal of sexuality and frequent rude humor, as well as the politically and socially relevant asides, made the film an international hit and a major success with critics. The film was distributed through IFC in America allowing the film to collect $13.8 million in the United States, unparalleled at the time for Latin American films. Critic
Roger Ebert of
The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "It is clear Cuaron is a gifted director, and here he does his best work to date." Cuarón shared an
Academy Award nomination for
Best Original Screenplay with co-writer and brother
Carlos Cuarón. In 2004, Cuarón directed the third film in the successful
Harry Potter series,
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Cuarón faced criticism at the time from some
Harry Potter fans for his approach to the film, notably its tendency to take more creative liberties with the source material than its predecessors. However, author
J. K. Rowling, who had seen and loved Cuarón's film
Y tu mamá también, said that it was her personal favorite from the series so far. Critically, the film was also better received than the first two installments, with some critics remarking its new tone and for being the first
Harry Potter film to truly capture the essence of the novels. It has been subsequently rated by audience polls and critics as the best of the movie franchise series. The film earned two
Academy Award nominations for
Best Visual Effects and
Best Original Score for
John Williams. In 2006, Cuarón's feature
Children of Men, an adaptation of the
P. D. James novel starring
Clive Owen,
Julianne Moore, and
Michael Caine, received wide critical acclaim including three Academy Award nominations. Cuarón himself received two nominations for his work on the film, in
Best Film Editing (with
Alex Rodríguez) and
Best Adapted Screenplay (with several collaborators). He created the production and distribution company
Esperanto Filmoj ("Esperanto Films", named because of his support for the international language
Esperanto), which has credits in the films
Duck Season, ''
Pan's Labyrinth, and Gravity. He was also a co-founder of the production company, the "Tequila Gang" together with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, screenwriter Laura Esquivel, producer Berta Navarro and sales agent Rosa Bosch. Cuarón directed the controversial public service announcement I Am Autism'' (2009) for
Autism Speaks that was criticized by disability rights groups for its negative portrayal of autism.
2010–present: Awards recognition In 2010, Cuarón began to develop the film
Gravity, a drama set in space. He was joined by producer
David Heyman, with whom Cuarón worked on
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Starring
Sandra Bullock and
George Clooney, the film opened the
70th Venice International Film Festival in August. The film was then released in America in October 2013. The film became a financial success, earning 723.2 million at the box office against a budget of 130 million. The film also received many awards nominations. For the film, he received the
Golden Globe Award in the category of
Best Director. The film received ten Academy Award nominations, including
Best Picture and
Best Director. Cuarón won for Best Directing, becoming the first Latin American to win the award, while he and
Mark Sanger received the award for Best Film Editing. In 2013, Cuarón created
Believe, a science fiction/fantasy/adventure series that was broadcast as part of the 2013–14 United States network television schedule on
NBC as a mid-season entry. The series was created by Cuarón for
Bad Robot and
Warner Bros. Television. In 2014,
Time placed him in its list of "
100 Most Influential People in the World" – Pioneers. In May 2015, Cuarón was announced as the president of the jury for the
72nd Venice International Film Festival. Production began in fall 2016 for Cuarón's eighth film,
Roma, a tale of a housekeeper for a middle class Mexican family in 1970s Mexico City, based on the life of his family's longtime maid, Liboria Rodríguez. The project was produced by Cuarón,
Gabriela Rodríguez and
Nicolás Celis and starred
Yalitza Aparicio and
Marina de Tavira both of whom received
Oscar nominations. The film debuted at the
75th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the
Golden Lion, and was distributed to select Mexican and American theaters before its online release on
Netflix.
Roma was highly acclaimed upon release; among its accolades are two Golden Globes (
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director for Cuarón) and three Academy Awards (Best Director,
Best Foreign Language Film, and
Best Cinematography for Cuarón) out of a leading ten nominations. In 2019, Cuaron signed an overall TV deal at
Apple. His first series for Apple was the psychological thriller
Disclaimer, starring
Cate Blanchett,
Kevin Kline,
Louis Partridge and
Sacha Baron Cohen; it is based on the eponymous novel by Renée Knight, with Cuaron writing and directing every episode. == Style and themes ==