Description
Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, a plant from the corrupt Ministry of Magic.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a 2007 fantasy film directed by David Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. The film, which is the fifth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, was written by Michael Goldenberg (making this the only film in the series not to be scripted by Steve Kloves) and produced by David Heyman and David Barron. The story follows Harry Potter’s fifth year at Hogwarts as the Ministry of Magic is in denial of Lord Voldemort’s return. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry’s best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. It is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and is followed by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Live-action filming took place in England and Scotland for exterior locations and Leavesden Film Studios in Watford for interior locations from February to November 2006, with a one-month break in June. Post-production on the film continued for several months afterwards to add in visual effects. The film’s budget was reportedly between £75 and 100 million ($150–200 million). Warner Bros. released the film in the United Kingdom on 12 July 2007 and in North America on 11 July, both in conventional and IMAX theatres; it is the first Potter film to be released in IMAX 3D.
Order of the Phoenix is acclaimed as “the best one yet” by Rowling, who has consistently offered praise for the film adaptations of her work.
Dolores Jane Umbridge is the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She is a short, squat woman described as resembling a large pale toad, with “short, curly, mouse-brown hair”. She speaks with a quiet, childish, high-pitched voice, and loves kittens, chocolate cakes, biscuits, tea and other cute things, decorating her office with related paraphernalia. She has a tendency to speak to people she feels are her lessers in a very condescending tone, as if they are simpletons or very young children.
Umbridge is first presented as an interrogator at Harry’s trial for under-age use of magic in the opening chapters of Order of the Phoenix. It is later revealed that Umbridge had the Dementors attack Harry in an attempt to silence him from contradicting the Ministry’s statement about Voldemort not returning from the dead. Umbridge is subsequently installed at Hogwarts as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor by order of the Ministry. Her teaching consists only of defensive magical theory, due to Fudge’s paranoid fear that Dumbledore intends to use his students as an army to bring down the Ministry. She is soon appointed the first “High Inquisitor” of Hogwarts, in which she is given extraordinary powers over the students, teachers, and curriculum. She dismisses Sybill Trelawney as a teacher, though Dumbledore points out she cannot send her away from the school itself. Ultimately, she deposes Dumbledore after he ‘confesses’ to plotting against the Ministry to prevent Harry being expelled, and has herself instated as Headmistress by the Ministry. However the Headmaster’s Office (the room itself) rejects her authority by sealing her out, meaning she has to continue to use her own office. She creates the “Inquisitorial Squad”, which rewards its student members for reporting on others and sanctions them to act as enforcers of Umbridge’s rules, including the ability to take points from the other students for the House Cup competition. All the members of the Inquisitorial Squad are Slytherins. Her authority is initially challenged by Fred and George, who leave Hogwarts after turning a corridor into a swamp and bombarding Umbridge with fireworks. She then faces trouble from the non-Slytherin student body and Peeves at every opportunity, with the teachers doing very little to stop them. Filch the Caretaker tries to help her, delighted at being given permission to whip students, but there is too much trouble for him to keep order. Towards the final chapters of Order of the Phoenix, Umbridge attacks Hagrid, but her attempt is thwarted partly due to Hagrid’s half-giant heritage which grants relative immunity to spells. Hagrid escapes Hogwarts, and Minerva McGonagall is severely injured by Umbridge’s followers and is sent to St. Mungo’s hospital, clearing the way for Umbridge to assume complete control of the school.
Umbridge’s time at Hogwarts is characterised by cruelty and abusive punishments against students; she forces Harry Potter, Lee Jordan and other students to whom she gave detention to write lines using a blood quill, which cuts the same words written into its victims as they write. Umbridge even attempts to use Veritaserum and the Cruciatus Curse to extract information from students. By speaking derisively to a herd of centaurs, she provokes them and they abduct her. Umbridge is rescued not visibly harmed, but traumatised, by Dumbledore, and is eventually removed from Hogwarts due to the wizarding community protesting Fudge for his resignation. She later makes a short appearance in Half-Blood Prince when she attends Dumbledore’s funeral with an unconvincing expression of grief and Harry is disgusted to hear that Rufus Scrimgeour has continued to employ her at the Ministry of Magic.
Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, OBE (born 9 January 1956) is a British actress of both dramas and musical theatre. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the British comedy television series Up the Garden Path, the Harry Potter film series (in which she plays Professor Dolores Jane Umbridge) and Vera Drake, and Shakespeare in Love, in which she played the Nurse. She drew critical acclaim as Vera Drake, earning her a Best Actress Oscar nomination and a number of wins including the BAFTA and Venice Film Festival Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Her notable roles in musical theatre include Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd (both for the National Theatre) and Rose in Gypsy (Chichester Festival Theatre).
Staunton portrayed Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), a performance described as “coming close to stealing the show.” She was nominated in the “British Actress in a Supporting Role” category at the London Film Critics Circle Awards. Staunton reprised her role as Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One in 2010.
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