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ON THE COVER ''This is one where the fans [of the books] will be especially pleased,'' Radcliffe promises of the Phoenix film

3. They couldn't film everything in the book
Come on, give them a break — Phoenix runs to 870 pages! Longtime series screenwriter Steve Kloves sat Phoenix out — he'll be back next time — and left new scribe Michael Goldenberg (Contact, Peter Pan) a major compression job. The main plot is intact, as Harry becomes a resistance fighter against the repressive Ministry of Magic. But all that stuff about Ron Weasley becoming a Quidditch king? Cut. Mrs. Weasley's pestilent boggart? Nixed. Dobby the house elf? Poof — gone. Young wizard Neville Longbottom's poor, mad parents in St. Mungo's hospital? Snipped. If you ask Radcliffe, these details aren't crucial. ''This is one where the fans will be especially pleased,'' the actor says. ''It's chock-full of stuff.'' (Despite that density, the producers say Phoenix will run under two and a half hours and be the shortest film so far.) And for those who hate abridged scenarios? ''The book is there if you want to read the book,'' Radcliffe says. ''People should be able to let that go.'' But Rupert Grint sounds a little bummed that Ron is more than ever a peripheral figure. ''I was quite looking forward to the Quidditch stuff,'' he says. ''Maybe next year.''

4. We'd never heard of the director either
The mantle on this $200 million production fell to British TV director David Yates after passes from Mike Newell, who directed the last Potter film, and Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding), who decided to shoot The Namesake instead. Yates won acclaim for the political-thriller miniseries State of Play and for his two-part 2004 telefilm Sex Traffic, about young Eastern European women sold into enforced prostitution — an odd segue to the magical world of Potter. ''I thought it was a curious fit at first,'' Yates agrees. ''[But] they want directors who come from not an obvious background...instead of the same old usual suspects who've made a ton of big films before.'' Yates seems to have clicked with his cast. ''He's very quiet, very docile,'' says Radcliffe. ''But he's got this incredibly filmic imagination.'' He must be doing something right: While nothing's finalized, Yates is expected to return for film 6, which is slated to begin shooting this September.


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