Wasting no time (lest Daniel Radcliffe or his cohorts look any older) new casting and principal photography on “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” got underway this week. According to a press release sent to Film Threat by Warner Brothers, the new cast will include Imelda Staunton (Nanny McPhee, Vera Drake) as Dolores Umbridge, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; George Harris (The Interpreter, Black Hawk Down) as Kingsley Shacklebolt; Helen McCrory (Casanova, Enduring Love) as Bellatrix Lestrange; Natalia Tena (Mrs. Henderson Presents, About a Boy) as Nymphadora Tonks; Kathryn Hunter (All or Nothing, Orlando) as Mrs. Figg; and 14 year-old newcomer Evanna Lynch, who beat over 15,000 hopefuls at an open casting call to win the role of Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw student who becomes an important ally of Harry, Ron and Hermione’s.
The film will be directed by David Yates and is set for a 2007 release.
