Imelda Staunton Speaks on Umbridge

Actress Imelda Staunton discusses her role as Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in a new article, where she describes the film to be ”…a very serious piece of work.” The actress also relates in the interview, her joy in playing both sides of Umbridge, being both ‘sweet and well-meaning as well as controlling and duplicitous.’ She goes on to note, the difficulty of some scenes to film, saying of one scene in particular:

“It was horrible doing the scene when Dolores makes Harry do his detention, and the blood appears on his hand,” she said. “You put yourself in that realm as a person who’s capable of doing that, and it was very uncomfortable for me afterwards. I did the scene fine, but then I felt horrible. It was horrible, horrible being someone like that. But Dan, he could handle it. He’s been through enough on these films.”