SHOWING SOME CHUTZPAH

The first two Harry Potter films, "The Sorcerer's Stone" and "The Chamber of Secrets," both directed by the family-friendly Columbus, were earnestly mainstream affairs. Some critics shrugged, but each film grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide. Now, with the series' two lightest chapters out of the way, the stage is set for an adventurer like Cuaron, who got an Oscar nomination last year for the teen-sex romp "Y Tu Mama Tambien." By now, every fan of the franchise has torn through the thunderous new book, "The Order of the Phoenix," at least once, meaning the onus of keeping the insatiable Potter machine humming is about to shift back to Hollywood. Chronicling the erotic adventures of two Mexican teens might not seem like a job qualification for a Harry Potter movie, but hey, give Warner Brothers credit for showing some chutzpah. "Alfonso has a keen understanding of the nuances of teenage life," says producer David Heyman. " 'Y Tu Mama' is about the last moments of adolescence, and 'Azkaban' is about the first." Cuaron also directed the 1995 adaptation of the children's classic "A Little Princess," a film that had a great many fans, including a particularly vociferous one named J. K. Rowling.

Presiding over the "Azkaban" set in England's Hertfordshire countryside, the bearded, rumply-haired Cuaron cuts a entirely different figure than the all-American Columbus-and it's not just the mariachi music blasting during a midshoot celebration. "Alfonso is much more gritty than Chris ever was," says Watson. "He's really into the idea that [shooting] should be fluid and natural. People can be eating an apple during a take."