9 Things We Learned from Alfonso Cuaron’s Reddit AMA

Oscar-nominated “Gravity’ director Alfonso Cuaron popped by Reddit this week to take part in one of the site’s AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions.

Famous directors have visited the popular social news site for AMAs in the past, but this might be the first time that a filmmaker currently up for a Best Director Oscar has ever taken part in one. Cuaron answered questions for more than two hours on a variety of topics, including his career, his movies, his friendships, and his guilty pleasures. Here are some of the highlights:

On the challenges of making "Gravity": "The hardest thing about doing 'Gravity' was gravity itself... and I mean the physical phenomenon," Cuaron wrote. "We were shooting a movie that took place entirely in micro-gravity and we were shooting on earth where we're bonded by it. Easiest thing about making 'Gravity' was working an amazing group of collaborators that would go to the ends of the earth to make this movie possible. Also, Sandra [Bullock] and George [Clooney] made it truthful."

On the criticisms leveled at “Gravity” by astronauts and scientists: “I’m very happy that scientists have taken time to attack or defend ‘Gravity,'" said the director. "We tried to be as plausible as we could in the frame of our fiction and we worked very hard in honoring the behavior of bodies in micro-gravity and no resistance. But, it’s a movie and that Sandra Bullock is not really an astronaut in real life.”

On the contributions that his director pal Guillermo del Toro (“Pacific Rim”) made to “Gravity”: “Guillermo has been a huge supporter of the film," he said, "and I owe the final result to him, he came in to the cutting room and made a huge difference and heightening the emotional jeopardy of the character.”

On the extremely dark alternate ending to “Gravity”: “We had an alternative ending in which after landing on Earth, Ryan will get back on her feet and as she’s walking away Matt Kovalski [sic] falls from the sky and crashes her to death," Cuaron revealed. "And then cut to black. Create scroll in silence.”

On his love for “Gravity's” Best Picture rival “Her”: “I absolutely love ‘Her’. I think it’s the best film about love that speaks directly to an age since ‘Annie Hall,’" he said. "It’s a beautiful film that also explores questions about the nature of love and consciousness. But, as I told Spike [Jonze], I’m torn between 'Her' and 'Bad Grandpa.'"

On how his extremely ambitious sci-fi film "Children of Men" got made: "Universal trusted me with the material and I’m very grateful to them because of that. The fact that I was coming out of 'Harry Potter' didn’t hurt though," Cuaron admitted. "We were consciously avoiding the future and every single reference that is portrayed in the film was based upon photo journalism and news reports of the last 10 years. So, we were trying to portray the themes that are shaping our immediate future."

On why he doesn’t watch his own movies once they’re finished: “Once I finish a film I don’t ever see it again," he said. "As I have said many times before, as opposed to some of my friends that consider their films like their babies, for me my films are like ex-wives. I loved them so much, they loved me so much, I gave them so much, they gave me so much- but now we have parted ways.”

On what he'd be doing if he wasn't a filmmaker: "I would be an assistant to George Clooney, the cobbler," Curaon joked, referencing Clooney's Reddit AMA.

On his guilty pleasure films: “Last year I loved ‘Sharknado,’" the filmmaker admitted, "and I can’t wait for the sequel.”

See? Don't feel bad for loving schlocky movies like "Sharknado," because the guy who's likely to win Best Director at the Oscars this year likes it, too!

You can read the entire Alfonso Cuaron Reddit AMA here.