Alfonso Cuarón Credits Cannes Boss For Idea To Make 'Roma'

One of the most interesting stories that affected the film industry in 2018 was the feud between Netflix and the Cannes Film Festival. After the streaming service was triumphant at the event in 2017, outrage from French exhibitors led to Cannes effectively banning Netflix from the festival in 2018 and there’s been no news on whether this ban will continue into 2019. The film most affected by this ban is Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma,” which was to debut at Cannes, but instead, premiered later in the year at Venice. Now, adding an additional layer to the feud is the fact that if not for the artistic director of Cannes, “Roma” might not even exist.

During a special screening of the awards contender in Paris, Cuarón talked about the origins of his deeply personal, semi-autobiographical Mexican film. And while the story is 100% from the mind of the filmmaker, he admits that Cannes boss Thierry Fremaux was instrumental in steering him into the direction to make “Roma.”

“There was a lot mezcal, and Thierry kept interrupting me and saying, ‘No, no, no, you have to go back to Mexico to make a film here,’ and he was pissing me off….In the days that followed, what [Fremaux] had told me was haunting me and I was offended – until ‘Roma’ came into my thoughts and changed everything,” Cuarón said (via Variety).

We all know what happened next, with the writer-director crafting perhaps his best film to date and the film unfortunately not being able to make its debut at Fremaux’s festival. Instead, with the later release, “Roma” has become a film that is fresh in critics’ minds, topping many top 10s and almost certainly earning its fair share of awards nominations in the weeks to come.