Alfonso Cuarón on Treating His Apple TV+ Series ‘Disclaimer’ as a Film: ‘I Don’t Know How to Direct TV’

Marcus Jones
·2 min read

Given the setting and his past reverence for cinema houses, as seen in his recent Oscar-winning film “Roma,” it might have been a fair question to ask director Alfonso Cuarón at the Venice Film Festival press conference if his first venture into television, the upcoming Apple TV+ limited series “Disclaimer,” called for a different approach.

“In terms of this approach of motion pictures, it’s been known as film. I don’t know how to direct TV. Probably at this stage of my life it’s too late to learn how to direct TV,” said the two-time Best Director winner. “We approached this whole thing as a film. There was never a conversation where we were doing something different.”

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Starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, Lesley Manville, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Louis Partridge, Leila George, and Hoyeon, “Disclaimer” is a thriller based on Renée Knight’s 2015 novel about a respected documentarian that receives a novel from an anonymous author that exposes some of her darkest secrets. Rather than use the term “episodes,” the series is advertised as telling the story in seven chapters.

According to Cuarón, who also wrote the entire series, part of what made the project feel like business as usual was the collaborators he was working with. In reference to Blanchett and Kline, the two “Disclaimer” stars that joined him for the Venice press conference, the filmmaker said “The three of us, we are informed with films, with cinema.” He added, “With the cinematographers, we were doing a film, we didn’t approach anything differently.”

Those particular collaborators, Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki and Oscar nominee Bruno Delbonnel, were also part of the appeal for Blanchett working on the series. “We have two of the greatest cinematographers, so that’s an absolute pleasure. Knowing that each of these perspectives would have a very different visual language,” she said.

The part of making “Disclaimer” that Cuarón characterizes as a “miscalculation,” though, is just how long it takes to shoot seven films. “It was a very long process that I really feel for the actors because as much as they loved the character, they were stuck with those characters for way too long,” said the director.

“We’re still recovering,” responded Blanchett, to many laughs.

“Disclaimer” will premiere October 11 on Apple TV+ after screening in full at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.

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