Alan Rickman, who brought Hogwarts potions master Severus Snape to life in all eight Harry Potter films, wrote down his innermost thoughts about the franchise and his fellow actors in his diary. In excerpts from Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman, an upcoming book collection of the actor’s diary entries that will be out next month shed light on his decade-long journey through the franchise based on author JK Rowling’s best-selling books ad why he decided to continue playing the anguished wizard as well as his impression of his fellow actors including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson who played Harry and Hermione Granger respectively.
Rickman, who died from pancreatic cancer in 2016, gives readers an intimate look at his life and career spanning 25 years. Rickman in his diary entries recounts several non-Harry Potter anecdotes (Meryl Streep “turns out to be fun and gossipy”), the Harry Potter revelations are among the juiciest including how he wanted to exit the franchise after the release of the second installment. He wrote, “Talking to (agent) Paul Lyon-Maris about HP exit, which he thinks will happen. But here we are in the project-collision area again. Reiterating no more HP. They don’t want to hear it.”
The actor, of course, chose to return to the Harry Potter films, even when he was fighting an aggressive form of prostate cancer which was diagnosed before the start of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. He had written after he underwent surgery to remove his prostate, “Finally, yes to HP 5. The sensation is neither up nor down. The argument that wins is the one that says: ‘See it through. It’s your story.’”
Rickman also wrote his exasperations with his fellow child actors like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. For Daniel he described him as “sensitive, articulate & smart,” and wrote, “I still don’t think he’s really an actor but he will undoubtedly direct/produce.” With Emma he took issue with her diction and described it as, “this side of Albania at times.” He further wrote, “These kids need directing. They don’t know their lines.” Prisoner of Azkaban seemed to be his favourite film from the franchise and he doled out applause for director Alfonso Cuaron for doing “an extraordinary job.” He wrote, “It is a very grown-up movie, so full of daring that it made me smile and smile. Every frame of it is the work of an artist and storyteller.”
Rickman expressed his displeasure with John Williams’ “hideous score in Sorceror’s Stone” and was left disappointed with “Half-Blood Prince.” He vented out his frustration and anger at Harry Potter’ producers David Heyman and David Barron, and director David Yates by writing, “The desire to eat and even more get a drink is matched only by the need to bang the three Davids’ heads against the nearest wall. I get the character development and the spiffing effects (dazzling), but where is the story????”
In his journal entry of 2007, Rickman also reveals how author JK Rowling told him from the start that Snape had a deep bond with Harry’s mother Lily Potter. He wrote, “have finished reading the last ‘Harry Potter’ book. Snape dies heroically, Potter describes him to his children as one of the bravest men he ever knew and calls his son Albus Severus. This was a genuine rite of passage. One small piece of information from Jo Rowling seven years ago — Snape loved Lily — gave me a cliff edge to hang on to.”
Publishing house Canongate is releasing Rickman’s book Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman on October 4.
(Source: The Guardian/EW)
