Attention, Muggles: Your wait is over. The newest Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is out today. First-time HP director David Yates weighs in on the sure-fire blockbuster.

Word: Were you nervous directing Phoenix knowing what a success the previous films were?

Yates: No, just very excited about the challenge and the opportunity to dive into the world and to make something on a scale I've never been able to explore before. Making films as big as Potter doesn't give you much time to navel-gaze or to worry, you just get on with it--and it has been enormous fun every step of the way.

Word: How true is the movie to the book? How important do you consider following the book when you direct a film?

Yates: I enjoyed the book enormously and compressing it into a screen time of two plus hours proved to be the biggest challenge of all. There are bits it was hard at first to leave out--but I wanted to focus the story as much as possible to serve the medium we were working in. I think we've caught the spirit of the book without compromising the film experience for the audience.

Word: Is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix similar to any of the other HP movies?

Yates: This one is a bit edgier and grittier than the others--I really wanted to push the performances and the characters, to believe them as much as possible--because it is quite an emotional story and it is essential that the audience engage with and believe the relationships they are seeing on screen. It is inevitable as the characters and the stories grow older so do the films, and I'd certainly say this is the most grown up Potter so far.

Word: What was your favorite part about making this movie?

Yates: Working with Dan [Radcliffe], Rupert [Grint], Emma [Watson] and the rest of the cast, all of whom were great fun to be around. 

Word:  What was the most difficult part about filming this movie?

Yates: The length of time it took to shoot. Most films I've made were shot over a period of weeks, or a couple of months. Order of the Phoenix, because of the size of the story and the level of complexity in visual effects, took almost a year. Keeping focus and perspective is the biggest challenge across that time span, especially when you are shaping how a characters journey unfolds through the story.

Word: Are you going to direct the sixth HP?

Yates: I've had such good fun making this one, it [would be] really difficult giving it up and leaving The Half Blood Prince to someone else. I also had a feeling that there was unfinished business somehow over the two years it took me to make The Order of the Phoenix. I've become completely involved in the world and the characters that Jo [J.K. Rowling] has created, and I wanted to spend more time with them. So yes, I will be doing The Half Blood Prince. Can't wait in fact.

Word: If people could only see one movie this summer, why should they see HP?

Yates: Because it is a terrific ride but goes deeper and darker than the films the audience has already seen.