Alan Rickman on Arsenio Hall – transcribe
Arsenio Hall: Alan Rickman!
[AR walks in wearing black shoes, black jeans, black jacket & white tee shirt. Shakes hands with AH (says something we can’t hear during the applause) and sits on couch]
Arsenio Hall: That’s a cute line, “Call off Christmas.”
Alan Rickman: Yeah, why not.
Arsenio Hall: Are there other memorable lines in there? How do you do those lines with a serious face?{editorial comment: Hey Arsenio, It’s called acting. -Kel}
Alan Rickman: It’s difficult, it’s difficult, but you , ah, know he doesn’t have a great brain the Sheriff of Nottingham, so…
Arsenio Hall: Yeah, yeah. How did you feel when you first saw this movie ? After it was totally complete? The first time you…
Alan Rickman: [Leans back on couch drops arms in attitude of shock] Like this. [Laughs]
Arsenio Hall: Really.
Alan Rickman: Well you know, making a film is like 3 or 4 months of your life and then it gets reduced down to a couple of hours. And so you’re sitting there and you’re thinking, “Now they’ve cut that, and they’ve cut that, and they left that in, and they’ve cut that, and they’ve cut that, and they’ve cut that. [Laughs]
Arsenio Hall: Louie (?) Said something very interesting when I asked him about the movie. He said you were great. And I’ve read a lot of reviews where the reviewers politely say, “Alan was great. “Alan steals the movie.” Does that create a certain kind of competitive thing that you might not want with Mr. Costner?
Alan Rickman: Well if you were likely to get any big…I’ve just been given this backstage [Pulls Sheriff of Nottingham doll out of his pants] and this reduces anybody to size this is the Sheriff of Nottingham doll. You can all go out and buy this and them it reduces my mortgage. Ahem, but what’s special about this, I think, is it’s such a great likeness. [He holds it up near his face, but the director misses the closeup]
I don’t know what planet he was on but it wasn’t mine. [Tosses doll over his shoulder]
Arsenio Hall: Let’s find that later for me to take home. Ahem, but does it create a competition that…that you’d rather not see exist?
Alan Rickman: Well, I mean, competition’s the right word. I don’t think acting’s about that. I mean if people enjoy your work that’s great but I’m not in a race. And Kevin’s job in the film is completely different than mine. He has all the hard work to do. He’s the one who’s out in rivers for three days on end. I’m just walking around a castle kicking doors down.
Arsenio Hall: Yeah, yeah. Was this a difficult film to shoot?
Alan Rickman: Well, you see when actors talk about making filming being difficult, you kinda want to say, “compared to what?” Coal mining or unemployment or digging roads or… you know its a pretty easy life. And although as I say Kevin was in a lot of water for three days on end. I was in the warm, in a castle with lots of pretend logs, having a lot of laughs. So, it wasn’t that tricky for me.
Arsenio Hall: As an actor who a lot of critics obviously respect, how’s Kevin as Robin Hood? Cause we’ve all seen the story and it’s a very tough shoe to fill.
Alan Rickman: Well, who’s shoe?
Arsenio Hall: Ahem, well we have expectations because its not a new story to us and we know… I mean like say for instance many critics have talked about the accent. Ah, we have expectations….
Alan Rickman: The accent’s completely irrelevant. The point is if you took a time machine back to England …ah, to the time when Robin Hood was around the accent would probably be closed to an American accent than this [Points to his throat] much closer… ’cause the R’s were rolled and all of that thing…so, ah, there’s a kind of great, ahem, big quilt of accents in that movie and I think that’s great. It’s about the sprit of it, it’s not about let’s find little faults that we can pick. It’s not about that.
See, I think a lot of the time critics jobs involve sitting in front of a film like this [Leans forward and mimes pencil and paper] you know they have a pen poised over a piece of paper. And actually this is a film that you should watch like this [Leans back throwing arms out] with a Coca Cola and popcorn and the kids and just have a great time. And audiences at both screenings that I’ve been to end up clapping, cheering and having a wonderful time.
Arsenio Hall: You talked about things being cut out. What was cut out of this film?
Alan Rickman: [Laughing] Well, lots of things are cut out. The thing of it is we ended up with a four hour film. And I know that Kevin got away with it with Dances With Wolves but I think four hours is pushing it. But I think somewhere they may put out a three and a half version on TV.
Arsenio Hall: Anything that you really wanted to see that’s not there?
Alan Rickman: Ahem, well I do get to attempt to rape Maid Marion in the film. I’ll say attempt ’cause again, foreplay is not his middle name, the Sheriff of Nottingham so it’s all over rather quickly. Ahem, but it took a little longer in the shooting then it does in the film. [Laughs]
Arsenio Hall: Truly, Madly, Deeply is out there. Ahem, what kind of experience was that? Are you happy with that?
Alan Rickman: Well, it was like the other side of the coin to Robin Hood, because that was a small film with a bunch of friends who had all worked together a lot in England. And it was Anthony Minghella’s first film. He directed it and wrote it. And so it was like friends coming together for five weeks and having a great time. It’s a lovely film.
Arsenio Hall: You got to sing?
Alan Rickman: Well with a very small “S”. Yeah, but I’m supposed to sing badly in it.
Arsenio Hall: Ahem, with things like Die Hard and Robin Hood, I guess a project like that was a welcome project for you. Cause we know you as kind of a bad guy in most things, right?
Alan Rickman: Yeah, it’s the simple answer.
Arsenio Hall: Yeah.
Alan Rickman: It was nice to smile. It was nice not to have to raise an eyebrow and snarl and all of those things. Ahem, he’s a really nice guy in the film. Unfortunately, the problem is, he’s dead. So, ah, you know soon maybe I’ll get to be in a movie where I’m nice and I’m alive.
Arsenio Hall: [Laughs] We’ll look forward to that.
Alan Rickman: I hope so.
Arsenio Hall: Thanks for stopping by. Congratulations, man, you have the number one film in the country.
Alan Rickman: Thanks very much.
Arsenio Hall: Pleasure.
Alan Rickman: Nice to meet you.
Arsenio Hall: [To audience] Alan Rickman!
[Cut to commercial]
FIN
