Harry’s Hormones Rage

Given that his last film concerned the sexual shenanigans of a pair of Mexican teenagers, it is perhaps apt that Alfonso Cuaron is tackling the puberty instalment of Harry Potter. According to Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, The Prisoner of Azkaban is the film where "all those lovely, lovely hormones start coming out," and Cuaron is all for that. “You just have to let it flow,” he told Newsweek in an extensive article on the third Potter film. “You don’t need to encourage it. You allow it to be. And believe me, they have a lot of it.” Apart from burgeoning sexual tension and a more adolescent feel lacked by the series more child-like predecessors, Azkaban is a far darker story, something Cuaron's grittier style seems ideally suited for. Bringing his own unique approach to the film, Cuaron has made some changes to Chris Columbus' formula. The director has tasked his design team with conjuring a 'spookier' feel for the third film, paying special attention to the town of Hogsmeade, which makes its first appearance. He's also made some tweaks to Dumbledore, with the newly cast Michael Gambon playing him as more of an ageing hippie than Richard Harris' sagacious sorceror. Cuaron also has a few curious ideas regarding the film's characters, seeing Lord Voldemort a cross between George W Bush and Saddam Hussein. “They both have selfish interests and are very much in love with power. Also, a disregard for the environment. A love for manipulating people. I read books four and five, and [Minister of Magic, Cornelius] Fudge is similar to Tony Blair. He’s the ultimate politician. He’s in denial about many things. And everything is for the sake of his own persona, his own power. The way the Iraq thing was handled was not unlike the way Fudge handled affairs in book four.” Children's entertainment or biting social commentary? We'll find out in June 2004.