Alfonso Cuarón, who directed such films as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, A Little Princess, and Y Tu Mama Tambien, has just won the Best Director award at this year’s BAFTA ceremony for the science-fiction space drama, Gravity.
It is the director’s first BAFTA win for the category. Cuarón beat major talents in the directing field including Martin Scorsese, Paul Greengrass, David O. Russell, and Steve McQueen. He also produced the film with his Harry Potter co-producer, David Heyman.
Cuarón worked with Framestore, a visual effects studio in London, for Gravity’s special effects that took more than 3 years to complete. The director wanted to depict a realistic view of outer space. He also stated that the scientific inaccuracies in the film were needed to keep the story intact. Besides, he was doing a work of fiction and not a documentary. The story was an original screenplay that the director worked on with his eldest son, Jonas.
The film features Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts on a Space Shuttle mission on board the Explorer. The shuttle is destroyed by space debris, and the two fight to survive. The film was nominated for 11 categories including Best Actress, and Best Picture. Gravity bagged 6 awards total: Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Music, Best Direction, and Best British Film. The film also got praises from veteran director James Cameron who says that it’s the best space film that has ever been done.
Cuarón was in disbelief over his win and saluted his son for being his inspiration and teacher in life. The award-winning director also praised the artistic and technical workers in the film during his winning speech.
Cuarón also won Best Director for the Gravity in the Golden Globe Awards held last January.
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