Carly Thomas for The Hollywood Reporter: Alfonso Cuarón Says He Directed ‘Harry Potter’ Movie Only After Guillermo Del Toro Called Him an “Arrogant A**hole”

del Toro knew how massive the movie franchise was, especially after Chris Columbus’ first two films, so the Hellboy director gave Cuarón some candid advice.

“He said, ‘Wait, wait, wait, you said you haven’t read Harry Potter?’ I said, ‘I don’t think it’s for me,'” the Oscar winner recalled of their conversation. “In very florid lexicon, in Spanish, he said, ‘You are an arrogant asshole.'”

Well thank you, Guillermo!

Although Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban performed the worst at the box office compared to all the other Harry Potter films, it still managed to gross more than $796 million worldwide.

Also in light of recent Pixar layoff news, it’s worth noting that Azkaban is what tons of people think is the best Harry Potter film (second best rated by critics and audiences) and was also the worst performing at the box office. Box office returns aren’t a perfect (or even good) indicator of quality.