Moviemaker Alfonso Cuaron regrets signing on to adapt Charles DICkens' Great Expectations for the big screen, because he agreed to direct the movie for all the wrong reasons.

The Gravity director took on the task of modernising the classic story in 1998, but was extremely hesitant about taking on the project, especially after his success with critically acclaimed film The Little Princess in 1995.

During a recent roundtable interview with Cuaron and other high-profile directors for The Hollywood Reporter, the Mexican filmmaker admitted he was in a bit of a slump following The Little Princess, and his judgment was clouded as he began to take on new jobs.

He confessed, "I got a bit engaged in the machinery. I forgot that I used to do my own stuff, and I became this reader of screenplays that they were sending to me. And I started forgetting that I had a voice. It started to become more about the industry.

"And then I did a film that was a horrible experience, Great Expectations. That is a film that I should have not done. I passed many times, and then I ended up saying yes for the wrong reasons."

The DICkens adaptation, which starred Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft and Robert DeNiro, garnered mixed reviews from critics, but one person who was more than eager to take on the project was Silver Linings Playbook director David O. Russell.

During the roundtable Russell exclaimed, "I was jealous that you got to make that film because I wanted to make it!", to which Cuaron responded, "Really, you should have."