The Mexican director behind an erotic road movie could take over the Harry Potter series.

Film-maker Alfonso Cuaron, who wrote and directed Y Tu Mama Tambien, has been approached about taking over the third Potter movie, according to industry magazine Variety.

I find it strange that teenagers can't see films that show how they behave

Alfonso Cuaron

Christopher Columbus directed the first big screen adaptation of JK Rowling's wizard series, and is currently working on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which is due out in November.

But he has reportedly decided that two is enough, and is keen to return to the US with his family.

Cuaron is said to have read the script for the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which is scheduled for release in November 2004.

Azkaban is expected to be darker than the first two films. The story centres on Sirius Black, an escaped mass murderer who is stalking Harry.

Career shift

The Potter films would mark a radical shift for Cuaron, who complained that Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too) received an 18 certificate in the UK.

"I find it strange that teenagers can't see films that show how they behave," the Times newspaper quoted him as saying.

Y Tu Mama Tambien was considered too steamy for under 18s

Critics described Cuaron's film as an "outrageously, uproariously sexed-up piece of work".

The movie-maker has also directed the modern day version of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke.

Variety reports that he is just one of the directors who has been approached to direct Azkaban.

The first Harry Potter film took a massive �64m in the UK and $317m (�216.6m) in the US, making it one of the top grossing movies of all time.