Alan Rickman: Snape, life as a villain
By Arianna Finos – TrovaCinema
“I fight Harry Potter but the children love me.” As a film actor, Alan Rickman is known mainly for his bad guy character roles, including the evil Professor Snape at Hogwarts.
LONDON – Alan Rickman is evil like that. Adults remember the English actor and director for a series of late ’80s criminals, terrorist nutcase Hans Gruber in Die Hard, the ridiculous Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves. But to kids (and guys) around the world Alan Rickman, Renato Zero’s black bob, cruel gaze and bat clothes, is Severus Snape, the dark Potions Master at the school of magic of Harry Potter.
If the Dark Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is identified by the readers/viewers as evil, that Snape is instead a beloved figure: book after book, the potions master has inflicted cruelty to Harry Potter, but also intervened to save him from harm. The sum of twists involving Severus Snape will be viewed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part II , the final film of the saga in theaters on July 13. “Ms. Rowling has built with care and depth Snape’s personality, enigmatic and intriguing as the Mona Lisa. So kids love Snape: they perceive that in him, despite the fierce look, there is something intriguing, that ignites their imagination. ” Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman, 65, is eloquently spoken, sitting in a lounge at the Mandarin Hotel in London.
Rickman has waited until the final film to be interviewed.
I have too much respect for the younger readers for spoiling the twists. Even now that everything has been written, there are children who are half way though the saga, or have seen only the first films, because the last are too scary.
Did you know the secrets of Snape from the beginning?
When I first got the part I phoned Ms. Rowling because I needed some trace. We had a long talk. It remained a secret.
What memories over the past ten years do you have in playing Snape?
The start was exciting. I took great care in every aspect, both psychological and practical, of the character: the cut of the hair, the length of the dress robes, the make-up. Then, I would enter a strange routine. Every year I’d travel, I’d direct plays, spinning other stories and then, for seven weeks, I would wear black contact lenses, finding an old friend again and a part of myself.
Movie after movie, Daniel Radcliffe and the other young actors have become adults …
A few months ago I went to see Daniel in a Broadway show [How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying]. While he sang and danced, I thought of the 11-year-old boy who stared at me wide-eyed behind his glasses on the set [of the first film.] Now Daniel is an artist and a strong young man, he also introduced me to his girlfriend.
You have a talent for playing villains.
The public judges the characters: Gruber is bad, Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility good. Not me. For me they are human beings, I interpret them according to their prospects. Die Hard was my first film. A brilliant script, copied many times later. And the action scenes were not digital: I had to fall from forty feet, I could have died. The director convinced me to be thrown.
What will you do now that you are free from the commitments of Harry Potter?
I’m working with the Coen brothers on the remake of Gambit. Then, following The Winter Guest, I want to direct a new film: the story of the relationship between Louis XIV and the woman who designed the gardens at Versailles. I will play the king.
You gave a good speech at Latymer School, your former school. Urged the boys to dream of becoming Nelson Mandela rather than Rupert Murdoch.
I come from a working class family, the scholarship to Latymer has changed my life. I reminded the students that having a choice is a privilege. I gave the example of Rachel Corrie, the pacifist who was killed by Israeli tanks. I also brought her story to the theater.
What do you think of David Cameron’s Government against the use of minors in advertising?
The British know how to raise their children without the help of the Government. The Harry Potter novels are more useful than a law: they encourage kids to read, they teach for example that there are moral and political choices that you have to make in life, giving priority to the common good than to one’s individual selfishness.
You have long been a supporter of the Labour Party.
It’s no mystery. I do not like government interference in the free formation of opinions.
