Director Alfonso Cuarón is known for his work on Academy Award-winning movie "Gravity" as well as "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."
But before he won an Oscar working with the likes of George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, the Mexican director's first experience with big Hollywood actors was slightly nerve-wracking.
It took advice from the late Alan Rickman to help Cuarón get past any trepidations of working with big-name talent.
During a conversation at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 20 with longtime collaborator and friend cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, the "Gravity" director told the crowd about a time he was asked to direct an episode of "Fallen Angels" in the early '90s starring Alan Rickman, Diane Lane, and Laura Dern.
Prior to this, Cuarón had been working on Mexican television series and he said he was terrified. He described himself as feeling like "an imposter coming from a Mexican film" while he was filming near the Hollywood Hills sign.
"It was an awesome cast. I arrived on set, I didn't know how to speak English, I didn't know how to speak to anyone," Cuarón remembered. "It was so scary. It was so bad. The first day, we went so behind. Everything was sloppy and bad."
The next morning, Cuarón said as he was driving to set he knew he didn't want to be there. When he arrived, he was told that Rickman wanted to speak with him. Cuarón went to Rickman's trailer, not sure what to expect, but the veteran actor gave the director a piece of advice.
"[It was] the most amazing pep talk," said Cuarón. "'I am here for you. All the actors are here for you. We believe in you.' He gave me the most beautiful pep talk."
Having that talk with Rickman made Cuarón more confident on set and they ended up making up for the previous day of shooting as well as getting some additional footage for the day ahead.
"The second day we did everything of the first day, everything of the second day, and we did some of the stuff of the third day," said Cuarón. "It was one of those things when things click [...] It's about confidence and feeling that it's a matter of telling [people] what you really want."
Cuarón, of course, would work with Rickman again a decade later when directing the third "Harry Potter" movie, "The Prisoner of Azkaban."
