“We thought it would be amusing to put the Ministry of Magic underneath the Muggle ministries, so we positioned the telephone box on the sidewalk very close to the Ministry of Defense. So, unbeknownst to the Muggles, underneath the British Ministry of Defense lies the Ministry of Magic,” Craig smiles.

“We had a lot of fun creating this sort of little round person, who’s not very nice,” Imelda Staunton says. “I didn’t want her to have any hard edges. I thought it was important for her to appear soft and warm because, of course, she is neither.”

To physically suggest Umbridge’s softness, Temime reveals, “We gave Imelda a lot of padding because she’s actually a very thin woman.” The designer also used soft, fuzzy fabrics for Umbridge’s costumes to add to the illusion of softness and warmth.

“Every time we see her, she is in a different shade of pink,” says Temime. “As she gains power, the color gets stronger and more atrocious until she winds up in the deepest shade of cerise.”

Emma Watson says. “They are not really Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons anymore because the students are not allowed to use magic. And for an eager mind like Hermione’s, it’s like a slap in the face. She just can’t bear to sit there and be treated like an idiot; it just makes her blood boil because learning is everything to her. For the first time, Hogwarts, which has always been this very secure, stable place for Harry, Ron and Hermione, is not safe. It’s scary and it’s dangerous.

For the first time in her life, Hermione feels the need to rebel. It’s the first time she realizes that doing what you’re told all the time doesn’t quite work. You can’t always trust authority; sometimes you have to trust yourself.”

David Barron recalls, “Fiona Weir met all 15,000 of the girls and eventually distilled the choices down to 29, who she put on a DVD and sent to us. She told us there was one girl to watch for, but didn’t tell us which one. I got as far as the ninth one and rang Fiona and said, ‘It must be number nine,’ and it was. It was Evanna. She was just fantastic.”

Heyman attests, “The difference between Evanna and all the other girls we interviewed for the part is the others could play Luna; Evanna Lynch is Luna.”

Grawp’s heart can be seen when he is instantly taken with Hermione, who can’t help but be flattered. “For Hermione, there is something sweet about Grawp,” notes Emma Watson. “He is quite endearing in the way he has a soft spot for Hermione, and she seems to be the only one who has any control over him, which is pretty funny. I know he is mostly made of special effects, but they somehow managed to make him feel so real. He had such puppy dog eyes; I couldn’t help but fall in love with him."

“The scenes with Grawp were amazing,” Rupert Grint states. “They had this massive head and shoulders on the set and you could almost forget he wasn’t all there. They were some of my favorite scenes to do because when Grawp takes a fancy to Hermione and picks her up, Ron gets jealous and tries to come to her rescue. He tries to play the hero and beat up a giant and you can guess how that turned out,” he grins. “It was fun because I got to do a little stunt work when he sent me flying.”

Stuart Craig says the original plan was “to physically manufacture 15,000 glass spheres and place them on glass shelves. The whole thing was going to be a crystal palace covered in cobwebs and dust. But then we realized that when the shelves came crashing down, it would be a one-take deal. It would have taken weeks to replace and reset the orbs.” Practicality won out, and the entire sequence was instead shot against a green screen, making the Hall of Prophecy the first-ever completely computer-generated set in a Harry Potter film.

“If somebody asks you to be in a Harry Potter movie, you have to do it, and I really had fun with this role. Bellatrix obviously has a personality disorder,” the actress laughs. “She actually gets a kick out of being evil. I think she is in love with Lord Voldemort; she was willing to go to prison for him for 14 years. Now that she’s out, she is even more fanatical.”

“David wanted me to set rules of engagement for fighting with the wands, which had not been established in the previous films,” Harris explains. “He wanted a range of movements and positions from which the spells could be delivered, but they had to be unique to the world of Harry Potter.”

In addition to outlining a basic set of movements, Harris worked with the actors to develop their individual techniques. He offers, “Jason Isaacs, for example, has a very formal, pure style, whereas Gary Oldman’s style is a lot more ‘street,’ which befits the character.”