"This is quite a political story," explained "Phoenix" director David Yates. "It's far more political than all the other 'Potter' stories, with the notion that there's this denial of truth outside in the wider world, there's an administration or a government who out of fear are trying to suppress and control information, the whole way the Daily Prophet [the wizard world's newspaper] frames Harry's story and presents him as a villain or a liar. J.K. Rowling's created those parallels, and they echo things in our world, very clearly."

Yates' assistant Jamie Wolpher, who also plays a Daily Prophet newsboy, summed up the new rules: " 'Boys and girls must not be within 8 inches of each other.' 'Anyone found in possession of the Daily Quibbler [the Prophet's rival magazine] is expelled.' 'All clubs and societies are disbanded.' She's basically making life impossible."

"It's oh-so-very Margaret Thatcher," Staunton said. "All that seeming lightness and laughter and sweetness she exudes is sitting on a much darker base. She wants it all to be perfect — no mess, pure, pristine. Chaos can't be tolerated, and she thinks she's done it all for the good. She doesn't think, 'I better not do that, somebody might get hurt.' It's whatever it takes. That's why it's disturbing."

"Fred and George really put it to Umbridge," said Oliver Phelps, who plays George. "It's a lot stronger than faces behind her back. They really demean her authority and do what every student has ever wanted to do to a teacher who ever made them feel about 1 inch tall."