Wizardry takes a dark turn in fifth 'Harry Potter' film

LONDON -- Storm clouds are gathering over the world's most famous wizard in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth film to be adapted from J.K. Rowling's magical saga.

Daniel Radcliffe's teenage Harry has acquired stubble on his chin and angst in his soul, facing a sense of isolation, a showdown with his evil nemesis, Lord Voldemort and -- just as scary -- his first screen kiss.

"He is very troubled," Radcliffe, 17, said recently, a few weeks ahead of the film's opening. "He's troubled by the fact that he doesn't think anybody is believing in him, his friends don't seem to understand him ... He lets that out in various ways. He lashes out."

"Order of the Phoenix," which opens in the United States July 11 and in Britain the next day, is directed by David Yates, a Briton best known for the multilayered TV thrillers "State of Play" and "Sex Traffic."

Yates brings a touch of grittiness to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which as the film opens is undergoing a creeping takeover by the bureaucratic Ministry of Magic and its emissary, the deceptively rosy Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton).

That, combined with nightmares that link Harry ever more closely to the dastardly Voldemort, bring a sense of impending doom to the wizarding world as Rowling's saga takes a turn for the darker.

Yates said his goal was "to introduce a real sense of emotional and spiritual angst and danger. The series is ready for that."

"I wanted to push [the actors] -- and they really wanted to push themselves," he added.

The actors, in turn, say they loved the challenge.

"David got us at a time when we were ready to be pushed, we all knew that, and he knew it, and he was damn well going to push us," Radcliffe said. "I couldn't thank him enough for that."

The result, Radcliffe says, is a more mature and complex Harry -- a hero with magic powers but human frailties.

"It's nice to know that he's real and he experiences real anger and rage and frustration and loneliness," Radcliffe said. "That's what makes him a proper hero as opposed to the Superman perfect-at-everything sort of hero. Harry's a genuine hero because he's flawed."

Apart from the angst, it's Harry's kiss with fellow student Cho Chang (Katie Leung) that will likely attract attention.

"This isn't a particularly sexy or exciting kiss -- it's very sweet and very clumsy, like all first kisses are," Radcliffe said.