'Children of Men' feature

Alfonso Cuarón discusses his new film and its connection with 'Y Tu Mamá También'.

Sep 21 2006

One of the few parts of London that looks better in Alfonso Cuarón’s futuristic vision, 'Children of Men', is Battersea Power Station, which has been rebuilt as the headquarters of a government department. It's an unusual sci-fi film, and Cuarón was adamant that London in 2027 should feel like London now – only worse. A Mexican, Cuarón is best known for 'Y Tu Mamá También' (2001), starring Gael García Bernal. He followed that with 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' (2004), all the time working on the script for 'Children of Men'.

'London is such a fantastic city that it's easy to get carried away by landmarks and beauty. I wanted to show a London that you could recognise. The pain of the design was making London look like today, but also to make people believe that it's 2027. For instance, the cars had to look like cars you see today. But if you focus on them closely, you think: yes, it could be 2027.

'I'm thankful that this movie didn't happen before 'Harry Potter'. For two years I was working on 'Harry Potter' in London – which is very different from being a tourist. Suddenly, you're inside and witnessing the social dynamic. I can't claim to understand the Brits, but at least I witnessed the class system, for instance, and other subtle things.

'You could say that the premise of 'Children of Men' is far-fetched: there hasn't been a baby born for 18 years. But I wasn't interested in explaining fertility. You'd fall into science-fiction territory and, for me, infertility is nothing but a metaphor for a lack of hope and a lack of respect for life. It would distract from the biggest element we wanted to talk about: the present.

'PD James's novel (published in 1993) was set in Britain, and ever since I was approached with the idea for the film, it was set in Britain. It made sense. From the novel we took the premise, which I'm so thankful for: it triggered so many things in me about the fading hope of humanity. We're talking about environment, immigration, security versus freedom. You couldn't set this in America. It's too vast, it wouldn't make sense, this reality, this microcosm. Britain is an island and you can isolate the whole thing.

'We said: let's do something like 'Y Tu Mamá También' – but in the future. Both this and 'Y Tu Mamá También' are road movies, first and foremost. There was also continuity between the two films in the sense that the principle was the same: to make a road movie in which context is as important as character. If you want to be mean, you could say that 'Y Tu Mamá También' is a very formulaic film – two guys on the road with a girl, shit happens. It's the same here: 'Children of Men' is a road movie in which a reluctant hero tries to bring a character to safety. You could give that story to Michael Bay. But for me, what was important was the social and political resonance and the context.

'We said: let's approach this story in the future, but as if we're talking about the present. That was the biggest thing even before we even started writing the script, to create the framework. In 'Y Tu Mamá También' it was easy: the social context was there. Here, we had to reconstruct the social context. In order to do that, we had to imagine what had happened between now and 2027. We had to create a philosophical and social framework. We did certain research and also followed certain people who I happen to be in tune with. We read people like Slavoj Zizek. I wanted the film to be a heightened perception of what I consider reality to be right now.

'Our first model was 'The Battle of Algiers'. That was the film that I presented to Clive Owen. He watched it and said he didn't fully understand our script, which wasn't finished, but he was up for it. The amazing thing about 'The Battle of Algiers' is the social reconstruction. It's meticulous, and the sense of reality is so unique. I remember, the first time I saw it, I swore they were lying when they said that everything was fictional.

'It's a pain in the ass to shoot in London, but you can't blame the city. It's just hard. We did a scene in Fleet Street where there's an explosion – a terrorist attack – and we did that a month-and-a-half after the bombings. There was an explosion and all these people came out with severed arms and there was a chilling silence. It was so realistic. Everyone was freaking out.

'There's one location we used: a flyover in east London. It looks like the kind of place I see all the time in London: a place without glamour. All the time we were shooting, we kept saying, 'Let's make it more Mexican'. In other words, we'd look at a location and then say: yes, but in Mexico there would be this and this. It was about making the place look rundown. It was about poverty.

'I believe in detail. It's as important as the words. Let's remember that cinema was once silent! When sound came, cinema went back ten years and focused on actors telling stories rather than cinema telling stories. I think that narrative is the poison of cinema. I hate when cinema is a hostage of narrative. Nevertheless, I don't mind when narrative is a hostage of cinema. I believe in the power of cinema.'

'Children of Men' opens on Friday. 'Y Tu Mamá También' screens at the NFT on Oct 1 and 16.

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