Alan Rickman talks Severus Snape at NY Times Arts & Leisure Weekend 2012

okay so let's get into it you had ten years in the role of in the role of Snape who gave me chills far worse than you-know-who how did that film role come about for you I was asked to do it I went and had dinner with Chris Columbus and David Heyman and the three of us sort of corporately said okay then let's did you have any doubts or second thoughts about taking on the room and well then the difficult if it was a difficulty was that of course she'd when we started it Gero lling had only written three of them and and I was playing the character where you had no idea where it was going so that was tricky it was clearly he had an agenda you just don't no idea what it was and she did she know when you became involved where he would go or was serious Joe knew everything and I think it's true to say that she had put the ending into a safe right back then did you Shin er would finish did she tip you off that where Snape would ultimately well shucks didn't injure me and there's a lot of speculation about this um before I said I would do it I said I have to talk to her and I rang her and she was with her sister at the time she said I can't talk now so that's how much she kept it all to herself she said we'll talk tomorrow and then we spoke the next day and she gave me one small piece of information that was just a very small and it certainly wasn't and this will happen and then that will happen and this is how it finishes and never knew any other but it was a small piece of information that let me know that there was more to him than met the eye can you share what that was no I promised her I never would have before filming of the first film was under way did you were Jo or the director Chris Columbus have ideas for how to play Snape that were different from where the performance ultimately ended up filming is a bizarre medium you know you was never any rehearsal it's always about the product or often about the product and not very often is there time for rehearsal so a lot of decisions and and that can be a good thing it means that there's not too much thinking you have to just do it and I think with Harry Potter a lot of it was just about people just connect and don't think about it too much I was very involved in the costume and the look what did you want for it um I was very specific about it I said the sleeves should be really tight and there should be a lot of buttons because that helps me the idea that he has to do that's actually buttoned in and you know it's very different if you've got a sleeve that finishes there that's very different to a sleeve that finishes there so it was very important to me that that's where it finished and then buttons were tight hey let's watch one more scene now a scene from the final Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 you're spoiling the plot many of you are surely wondering why I have summoned you at this it's come to my attention that earlier this evening Harry Potter was sighted in Hogsmeade now should anyone student or staff attempt to aid mr. Potter they will be punished in a manner consistent with the severity of their transgression furthermore any person found to have knowledge of these events who fails to come forward will be treated as equally guilty nada if anyone here has any knowledge of mr. Potter's movements this evening and vitam to step forward now it seems despite your exhaustive defensive strategies we set up a better security problem headmaster Freya's point extensive how dare you stand where he stood tell them how it happened that night tell them how you looked him in the eye a man who trusted you and killed him tell it was a viewer into someone who just read the books and seen the movies I found that seem to be particularly satisfying do you playing it having played the character for all those years do you sort of have those sort of emotional doing cathartic moments with with the rollers it feel like a scene that you're playing and we move on to the next scene well now I mean with the last film it was very cathartic because you were finally able to see who he was and it was I suppose strange in a way to play stuff that was so emotional because a lot of the time you know you're working in two dimensions not three it's a very clear outline that all of those characters have but satisfying also on all sorts of levels um you know Rafe and I had a scene where you just thought well finally is just a couple of actors talking to each other and no special effects just watching that scene you think well thank God for computer graphics because Maggie and I are having real holding a wand is not the most threatening and pointing you that Dame Maggie Smith you know you've grown up worshiping from the cheap seats at the National Theater yeah and she's pointing it at you she can arch an eyebrow like nobody after thank God for the sheets of flame no very cathartic on also the other than seeing Dan and and Rupert nama and that's ten years where you watched people go from 12 to 22 was there was there ever a point in the unfolding of the eight movie series where you ever considered not continuing in the role of snake no I wasn't gonna let anybody else City that story

Channel: PixieFlight8763

Views: 3,128,840

Rating: 4.958066 out of 5

Keywords: Alan Rickman, Alan, Rickman, Severus Snape, Severus, Snape, Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows, Interview

Id: KyKrzGjekqA

Length: 9min 29sec (569 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 17 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/urcreeper]

Alan Rickman's acting in that movie is incredible. He is sometimes overlooked by Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, or Daniel Radcliffe but Rickman is the real reason to watch the films.

[u/Beecakeband]

God I miss him

[u/RearEchelon]

That scene in the Great Hall was so excellent - the look on his face when Minerva jumps out, how he deflects her spells into the Carrows - I could watch it over and over.

I wonder how Snape had originally planned on telling Harry what he needed to know before Voldemort attacked him.

[u/potterhead27]

very interesting! thank you for sharing. he is a true standout of the film series, some of my favorite Snape lines that come to mind I think of as being delivered by Alan Rickman