New interview with director David Yates

GEEKMONTHLY.COM: What would you say are some of the themes of Order of the Phoenix?

DAVID YATES: Jo's work is full of really interesting thematic stuff. In our story, Harry's having to deal with the whole issue of whether or not he's being corrupted and been made bad by this connection he has with Voldemort. It's classical. Anyone who's ever been through those very turbulent, difficult teenage years where you find yourself growing angry and frustrated and those years are really formative, will be able to identify. They're the years that can sometimes define you as a person. Some people can take that and develop in a positive way, and some people start on a route that ultimately leads them to difficult years. That's what this film and story partly looks at - the very emotional and turbulent time when you're growing up and you're suddenly questioning everything about the world. You're also discovering the world is quite a complex and complicated place, and all the adults around you don't necessarily have all the answers; they might even be falling out amongst themselves about how to deal with issues and problems that are threatening them. And you discover how complicated you are within your own self. What Jo is brilliant at doing, ultimately, is exploring that universal truth regarding that transition to adulthood in this magical universe.

GEEKMONTHLY.COM: When you joined the film, how did you acclimate yourself with the cast?

DAVID YATES: Right at the beginning, you always have these rehearsals with any actor you work with. With Dan, in particular, who had to go through this quite complex journey. We sat down several months before we started shooting. We would meet every week and we would talk about what Harry was dealing with. One of the things we did, and it sounds quite intense for a family film, is we brought in a bereavement counselor to talk to us about how Harry Potter dealt with witnessing the death of Cedric [Diggory]. This woman came in to talk to both of us about how people deal with quite intense emotional and disturbing experiences. She deals with people in the police and the rescue services who every day witnessed trauma and death, and she kind of showed us how people process that and deal with that and what it does to them. At the start of our story, and it kind of hangs over the story like a shadow, Harry is having to come to terms with what he witnessed, the tragedy he’s seen and it’s affected him. Dan was able to glean quite a lot from what she showed us and what she’d seen talking to people. That was kind of useful and helpful in the kind of development of Harry’s journey in our film. And the truth is, you never stop talking. Every day. I love working with actors and I love their interpretations of characters. Even on the day of shooting, you never stop talking. It’s a constant dialogue.