With his new Harry Potter film the #1 movie in America, Alan Rickman discusses Nobel Son and Harry Potter.

4 Comments

  • Colin
    Colin on

    ?

  • Mike
    Mike on

    Great interview! I love this format!

  • Dean
    Dean on

    Alan is a true class act!

  • Sonia
    Sonia on

    Wow, he’s great and I love this interview format!

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Q: Hi Alan. This is Kaitlin from Sacramento. My question is, you play a decidedly unsympathetic character in 'Nobel Son.' What attracted you to this role? - Kaitlin, Sacramento - Uinterview User

Well, Kaitlin, thanks for the question. Well, he thinks he's great, which is all I know. It's for you to say that he's unsympathetic. That may well be true. [Laughs.] But what's enjoyable is to play somebody who thinks he's absolutely the bee's knees.

Q: Hi Alan. This is Kevin from Washington DC. You became well known from your role as the villain in the 'Die Hard' movies. What makes a good villain and why are you so good at playing them? - Kevin, Washington, DC - Uinterview User

See, the thing is, I never attach a label to any characters I play. Maybe some part of the answer is in that. They're all just people to me. They want different things and I don't make any differences between some of the darker characters I've played or some of the sweeter souls that I've played.

Q: My follow-up question is, you are, of course, part of the 'Harry Potter' series. What was it like being part of such an enormous worldwide phenomenon? And, do you ever get tired of making them? - Uinterview User

Well it's been an extraordinary experience and kind of unique. Especially to work with something that's so worldwide, on the one hand, and something that's involved watching, specifically, three young people go from 12 to 19. And they're still sane, which is remarkable because their workload is very different from mine. I shoot 'Harry Potter' for seven weeks a year and the rest of that 52 weeks I'm doing all sorts of other things.

Q: Hey Alan. This is Ben from Brooklyn, NY, and I'm wondering if there was a specific moment when you were shooting 'Harry Potter' that you found to be the most memorable. - Ben, Brooklyn, NY - Uinterview User

Well the next one comes out next summer and I think I finished 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' -- I don't know -- a year ago? [Laughs.] No, I never pick out particular moments, and particularly playing Professor Snape; it's such a kind of sense of a continuous energy of: what's he thinking? what's he doing? what's he about? And nobody should really know right until the end.

Q: My second question is, other than 'Harry Potter,' what new projects do you have coming up in the future? - Ben, Brooklyn, NY - Uinterview User

I also direct so I've directed a play in London which is coming to New York, I hope, next year. I'm going to direct a film called 'The House in Paris.' I've just started working with Tim Burton on his film 'Alice in Wonderland.' Part of it's live action, part's animation, part's stop-motion so it's very very technically complicated. My character, the caterpillar, is animated, but it will be with my face on the caterpillar. So your guess is a good as mine at this point in time as to what it's going to look like, but it's always great to work with Tim.

Q: Hi Alan! This is Micah from Boston. In 'Nobel Son' you worked with the same director [Randall Miller] as 'Bottle Shock.' What type of relationship did you two develop? - Micah, Boston - Uinterview User

I guess I must have developed a relationship; otherwise he wouldn't have employed me again, and I wouldn't have said yes. But it means that there are all sorts of shortcuts I suppose. It means, I suppose, that I really like his and Jody Savin, his writing partner's, work. You know, Their work resists labels, and it's like a healthy playground.

Q: My second question for you is, you were a prominent stage actor before heading to Hollywood. How did you find that transition to blockbusters? - Micah, Boston - Uinterview User

It's just a kind of shift of concentration. You know, you're still the same person. You're still the same functioning, acting animal. You've only got the same head, hands, feet, body, imagination to work with. I guess you just have to learn quickly how to organize your concentration. You know, you're much more in charge of the event on stage, and on film there's a lot of noise and a lot of people doing a lot of difficult stuff all around you, so you have to just learn over time how to shut it out.

Q: Hi Alan- What was has been your favorite character to play so far and why? - Dianna
Q: Was Dogma as fun to make as it was to watch? And the Harry Potter movies, what has been the most interesting thing about Snape and are you looking forward to the character development for him going forward? - Dianna