Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens tomorrow, but the filmmakers are already buzzing about the next installment of the franchise.
HPOoP director David Yates has been hired on to direct the sixth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and he's already formulating plans for it. "
One thing we said when we finished Order of the Phoenix is we all want a very different experience next time 'round," says Yates. "We're very proud of this film--the intensity and the emotion, everything. One of the great things Jo Rowling does in the books is she captures stages of childhood. So the next stage of childhood is a bit more sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll."
So what can we expect in Half-Blood Prince? Change. "It's about the kind of emotional and sexual politics of being a teenager," Yates says. "It's a very different swing, the next film, and I think it needs to be for the series to keep evolving. I think that's important.
"In my work, every choice I've made I've always gone for something in the radically opposite direction. Once I finish something, I'm keen to stay fresh as a storyteller to try something different. The possibilities are so rich and there are so many things to play with in that world that it is possible to re-gear tonally, slightly. So the next one will be very different, I think."
In particular, Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, is going to have some maturing to do. "Ron does get a girlfriend in the next one. I think it does get a little bit intense," he comments. "I did another film called Driving Lessons and there was a little kiss in that. It was quite an uncomfortable experience. I didn't really enjoy it too much. It's going to be interesting."