Emma Watson’s favorite Harry Potter director was instrumental in changing the tone of the franchise and pushing actors to pull up their socks.

The golden trio of the Harry Potter franchise Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint carried the popular film franchise for 8 films from 2001 to 2011. From Philosopher’s Stone to The Deathly Hallows Part 2, the franchise interestingly changed hands with four directors, ensuring a sense of freshness and distinct style within the films.
A still from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Warner Bros.
Chris Columbus, Mike Newell, David Yates and Alfonso Cuarón directed various films within the franchise. The latter directed the third film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which is considered by some as the best entry in the franchise. Watson and his friends had to up their game for Cuarón as he expected the best and was not going to spoon-feed them throughout filming.

Alfonso Cuarón’s ‘No Bullsh*t’ Directing Style Forced Emma Watson And Friends to Step Up

Alfonso Cuarón took a matured and layered approach for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Warner Bros.
The Harry Potter franchise has seen unique styles and treatments based on who is behind the director’s chair. This is one of the franchise’s greatest strengths as it prevented them from becoming stale and repetitive, with various directors coming in and putting their own stamp on the franchise. Chris Columbus kicked off the first two films with a coming-of-age treatment which worked well.

However, with the third film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the franchise took a more mature and edgy route with Alfonso Cuarón helming the film. The much-needed change forced actors Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint to come out of their comfort zones as Cuarón was not going to treat them as kids and spoon-feed them throughout filming.

In an interview with Joblo, Watson revealed that Cuarón was not interested in superficial filmmaking and wanted everyone to be very much present in their respective roles. He pushed the actors to get deep into their characters and step up in their acting game, to bring more intensity and emotional pathos to the narrative. Watson said,

I think working with different directors have signaled different [things]… Alfonso [Cuarón] wasn’t going to do any of the ‘kiddie directing’ stuff. He was like, ‘Get up there and do it.’ He didn’t have much patience for ‘Yes wide, look terrified!’ He wasn’t going to do any of that, so he made us step up.

The film proved to be a significant turning point for the franchise where audiences realized the franchise was not only trying to appeal to kids. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban received rave reviews and was a huge hit, grossing $807 million against a $130 million budget (via Box Office Mojo). Watson has since told Interview Magazine that Cuarón was the director she enjoyed working the most in the franchise.

Alfonso Cuarón Gave The Harry Potter Trio Homework To Reflect on Their Respective Roles

Emma Watson loved working with Alfonso Cuarón on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Warner Bros
Alfonso Cuarón was the director who changed the gears of the Harry Potter franchise. His unique ambition and visual style transformed the franchise from a coming-of-age story involving magic realism to a mature story about kids learning to amass their skills and also delving deep into Harry’s past.

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Cuarón is known for being a meticulous director and for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, he gave assignments to the three leads including Emma Watson to write essays on their thoughts about their characters and their motivations. Watson talked about this on the DVD interview for the film saying (via Cheatsheet),

Basically, Alfonso asked us to write an essay about who we thought our characters were, why they did the things they do. Their backgrounds, their feelings, their thoughts, how they’ve changed in the first year of Hogwarts, and the second year of Hogwarts. And now they’re into the third year, how they feel.

Cuarón’s unique method must have certainly helped the actors understand their characters more deeply and personally. This may have also pushed them to go to more intense and dark places with their characters that the franchise had not gone before, as seen in the film. In the end, this experiment proved to be beneficial to the young actors.