Director Chosen For Potter 5

It's been mere days since news reached us that Michael Goldenberg would be filling in for writer Steve Kloves on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and now a new director is set to join him. Picking up where Mike Newell leaves of with The Goblet of Fire, David Yates will go on to usher young Harry into his fifth year at Hogwarts. Who? David Yates, that's who, though we're not surprised you haven't heard of him. Yates is a relatively unknown director whose CV consists mainly of TV work. His primary film credit to date is 1998 Brit aristocracy drama The Tichborne Claimant, but fear not because he's also the man behind the excellent State of Play, which proved John Simm was far more than just Human Traffic. So an odd choice to be sure and a real coup for Yates, having swept out of nowhere to take such a plum gig. Is he up to the task though? Who can say, but he's got some time to practice and directing Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly in the upcoming Brideshead Revisited is as good a place as any to hone his skills. Shooting on Order of the Phoenix is scheduled for late 2005 for a release sometime in 2007.