Around ten years ago, writer-director Alfonso Cuarón was given an early copy of Renée Knight’s thriller Disclaimer. The novel centers on a woman whose life is turned upside down after receiving a book from an unknown author that seems to expose her darkest secrets. The novel opens with a bold statement: “Any resemblance to persons living or dead is not coincidental.”

As Cuarón, known for films like Children of Men and Y Tu Mamá También, read the book, he visualized every scene vividly. He was convinced it should be adapted into a film. However, there was one significant challenge.

“I couldn’t see how I could condense the story I wanted to tell into just an hour and 45 minutes,” he explained.

As a result, Cuarón set the idea aside to focus on other projects, including Roma (2018), which earned him his second Academy Award for Best Director. But as the years passed, the thought of Disclaimer resurfaced. This time, he considered it in the context of longer films, like Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander or Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America—works that stretched to four or five hours.

While there isn’t a large audience for films of that length, Cuarón recognized a different option: television. He was aware that other renowned directors, such as David Lynch with Twin Peaks and Lars Von Trier with The Kingdom, had already explored this medium.

This is how, after three decades in film and five Academy Awards, Cuarón ended up creating Disclaimer, a seven-part limited series starring Cate Blanchett, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Kevin Kline. The first two episodes debut on Apple TV+ this Friday, with subsequent episodes released weekly.

In a video interview conducted in September, Cuarón, now 62, had just enjoyed a warm reception for Disclaimer at the Venice Film Festival—an unexpectedly glamorous venue for a TV series. Though pleased with the response, he admitted he was slightly taken aback. Despite his past work in television, most notably as the creator of NBC’s Believe (2014), he confessed he still wasn’t sure how to craft a series.

“I know my limitations at this age,” he said with humility.

Disclaimer centers on Catherine Ravenscroft (Blanchett), a renowned journalist and documentary filmmaker. In the first episode, she’s honored by Christiane Amanpour, playing herself, who praises Catherine’s work for uncovering “the hidden truths behind the narratives that obscure reality” and challenging “our complicity in some of today’s toxic societal issues.”

Amanpour’s introduction aptly reflects the show’s key themes: truth, narrative, and complicity. As Kline noted, careful to avoid spoilers, “A lot of the story revolves around biases, false narratives, and the blurred lines between fake and real news.”

The plot is suspenseful, featuring at least one major twist, and the characters—Catherine; her husband Robert (Baron Cohen); and Stephen (Kline), a former teacher who gets the mysterious novel published—are richly developed. But Cuarón was careful not to reduce the series to mere plot and character development, something a feature-length film would have required.

Instead, he focused on the formal challenge of portraying the novel’s multiple perspectives. He also wanted to experiment with narration, using it not as a conventional tool but as a way to challenge the viewer. The series employs three distinct voiceovers: one in the first person, one in the second, and one in the third.

“The goal was to challenge the narrative,” Cuarón explained, “and to challenge viewers with their own interpretations of the story.”

Casting the show was a relatively straightforward process. Many actors were eager to work with Cuarón. “Who wouldn’t be?” Blanchett remarked during a recent video call. “To be part of this shift in his career, from filmmaker to serialized storytelling, was incredibly exciting.”

Although Disclaimer became a series, Cuarón insisted on treating it as if it were a film. While he acknowledged that television often features some of the best writing in mainstream entertainment, he was aiming for more than just strong dialogue.

“The writing can be amazing,” he said, “but rarely do you get a cinematic experience.” He aimed for Disclaimer to be more than just background noise; the visual details—framing, lighting, and gestures—would be integral to the story and demand full attention.

In hindsight, Cuarón admits that treating a series like a film might have been a mistake. He hadn’t considered how much time it would take. By the end of production, “we were all exhausted.”

Filming began in London in spring 2022. While a typical TV show might shoot seven or eight pages a day, Cuarón sometimes managed only one. “It’s all about the specific choices in blocking and movement,” he said.

This required patience from the actors. Baron Cohen recalled a time when filming was paused for two weeks to rebuild a set. “That’s tough for an actor,” he admitted, “but it’s all in service of creating something magnificent. You just have to remind yourself you’re working with a master.” (He also mentioned a time when, after a half-day’s shoot of a challenging scene, Cuarón told him it was just a rehearsal.)

Further delays came from COVID-related interruptions, stretching production to nearly a year. The psychological intensity of the characters left the cast in a dark emotional space throughout filming. “I barely slept, and it wasn’t enjoyable,” Blanchett said, “but it was creatively rewarding.”

Viewers might be quick to judge the characters, especially Catherine. The early episodes encourage these snap judgments. But over the seven-hour series, some may find their initial perceptions challenged as they spend more time with the characters. Visual clues and subtle narrative shifts complicate the story, forcing viewers to reconsider their assumptions.

“We believe what we want to believe,” Kline summarized.

Baron Cohen echoed this sentiment in a separate interview. As someone who played Borat, he’s well-versed in the dynamics of prejudice and manipulation. “If people want to believe something, it’s easy to convince them it’s true,” he said.

Even Blanchett wasn’t immune. After reading the initial scripts, she was hesitant to take on the role. Cuarón told her to read to the end.

While the series isn’t overtly moralizing, it cautions against hasty conclusions. Cuarón, however, downplays any notion that the show has a grand mission.

“Filmmakers don’t fix the world,” he said. “Cinema doesn’t change anything. It can inspire, that’s all.”

Of course, this isn’t cinema but television. Still, Cuarón and the cast hope that Disclaimer’s themes and cinematic elements will make it worth viewers’ full attention. Perhaps, as Blanchett suggested, the show will even invite repeat viewings.

“The fascinating thing about this series,” she said, “is that we think we know our friends, our partners, our families. But how well do we really know them?”