Alfonso Cuarón

Alfonso Cuar?n Orozco (born November 28, 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican film director.

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Alfonso Cuar?n grew up in the city as well; he went on to study both filmmaking and philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. After graduating, Cuaron began working in television in Mexico, first as a technician and then as a director. Cuaron's television work led to assignments as an assistant director for several Latin American film productions (including ' and Romero), and in 1991, he landed his first big-screen directorial assignment.

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Solo con tu pareja was a dark comedy about a womanizing businessman who learns he's contracted AIDS; the film was a massive hit in Mexico, and was enthusiastically received around the world. Director Sydney Pollack was impressed enough with Solo con tu pareja that he hired Cuaron 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.

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In 1995, Cuar?n released his first feature film produced in the United States, A Little Princess, an adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic novel. Cuaron's next feature was also a literary adaptation, a modernized version of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Robert De Niro.

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Cuar?n's next project found him making a severe left turn; shot in Mexico with a Spanish-speaking cast, Y tu mam? tambi?n was a funny, provocative, and controversial road comedy about two sexually obsessed teenagers who take an extended road trip with an attractive woman in her thirties. 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.

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He also directed the third film in the successful Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Cuar?n has faced criticism amongst the more puritanical Potter fans for "ruining" the Prisoner of Azkaban film; given that the first two instalments, helmed by Chris Columbus, had adhered stringently to the books, Cuar?n's rather more individualistic film (which brought with it a far darker tone, costume changes, omitted subplots and other changes to the accepted continuity) came as something of a shock to many fans. However, author J.K. Rowling has said that this movie is so far her personal favorite from the series, and it remains the most critically lauded of the blockbuster series thus far.

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1961: 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar)....

Mexico City: Mexico City (Spanish: Ciudad de M?xico) is the name of a megacity located in the Valley of Mexico (Valle de M?xico), a large valley in the high plateaus (altiplano) at the center of Mexico, about 2,240 metres (7,349 feet) above sea-level, surrounded on most sides by volcanoes towering at 4,000 to 5,...

Mexico: The United Mexican States or Mexico (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or M?xico; regarding the use of the variant spelling M?jico, see section The name below) is a country located in North America, bordered by the United States to the north, and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. It is the nort...

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