Dan P. Lee profiles director Alfonso Cuarón and the difficult journey making his new film Gravity:

“When Cuarón first dreamed up Gravity, he thought that he’d essentially hacked the Hollywood system: Here was a potentially audience-friendly adventure movie, and as long as they landed an A-list actor, production would fall into place. He and Jonas wrote the screenplay at lightning speed. They attracted immediate interest from studios, and, crucially, Angelina Jolie. They began preparing for a shoot. ‘And then very soon we find out that the film was not going to be achievable with the existing technology,’ Cuarón said.

“So, I wondered, what did he do next?

“He laughed, smiled broadly. ‘Waste four years of my life.’”