Alfonso Cuarón Is Writing a Horror Movie, His First Feature in Eight Years

While Alfonso Cuarón directed “Disclaimer,” a 2024 Apple TV series, the Mexican-born filmmaker hasn’t helmed a feature film in nearly eight years, not since his Oscar-winning “Roma” in 2018. What gives?

We got an answer at his Busan International Film Festival masterclass this morning, where Cuarón admitted that he’s had more projects fall apart than come together. He didn’t get into specifics, but could that include his Philip K. Dick biopic, “Jane,” starring Charlize Theron, which was in preproduction in late 2019 before the pandemic hit?

At one point, Cuarón was also a serious contender to direct the next Bond film, with producer David Heyman, who previously teamed with Cuarón on “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” pushing hard for the reunion. Ultimately, though, Cuarón chose to step away from the running, opting to focus on other projects.

Regardless, it seems Cuarón has moved on. When asked about his eight-year hiatus and what his next film will be, he didn’t hesitate to reveal that it will be a genre film:

I am writing a horror story, carefully and slowly. It is very interesting.

Back in 2024, while guesting at the Locarno Film Festival, Cuarón said his “aspiration” was to “one day make a horror film,” and that he’d been “flirting” with an idea, citing two Roman Polanski films, “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Tenant,” as influences.

A horror turn wouldn’t come entirely out of left field. Cuarón has long trafficked in tension and dread. The bleak dystopia of “Children of Men” and the tense survivalism of “Gravity” both draw on genre filmmaking, and “Prisoner of Azkaban” remains the most unsettling entry among the early ‘Harry Potter’ films.

Cuarón isn’t the only A-list filmmaker eyeing horror. In just the last year, Christopher Nolan and the Coen brothers have both teased potential forays into the genre. Over the last decade, horror has been rejuvenated by critically acclaimed films and has spawned a wide array of box-office hits.

Cuarón is the acclaimed director of “Roma,” “Y Tu Mamá También,” “Children of Men,” and “Gravity,” all four of which appeared on The New York Times’ list of the 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century. Given that track record, it’s something of a loss that we haven’t seen a new feature from him in nearly eight years.