Random Delightful Stories About Alan Rickman From Other Actors And Crew On Set (12 items)

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  (#4) When A Child With Cancer Visited The 'Harry Potter' Set, Rickman Got Him A Role

  Paula DuPré Pesmen produced the first three Harry Potter movies. She remembered how Rickman not only welcomed a child with advanced cancer to the set of Prisoner of Azkaban, but also made sure the boy had a small part in the movie.

  Of the experience with Rickman, DuPré Pesman told the Huffington Post: 

  Alan [kind] of went into his Snape-mode in costume, and said, 'Why isn’t this child in the film?' Everyone had a good laugh, and Alan took him by the hand and put him into the crowd of kids as they were panning across. The back of him is actually in a shot.
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  (#2) He Used His 'Harry Potter' Paychecks To Treat Friends And Colleagues To Dinner

  Rickman became known among his friends and colleagues for frequently treating those around him to dinner, whether on set or off. Kate Winslet wrote about an anecdote she heard at his memorial service for Entertainment Weekly: 

  At Al's memorial, Juliet Stevenson told the story of how whenever Al would go out to supper, and anyone else would try and pay, he would somehow have phoned ahead or slipped his credit card ahead of the meal, so no one even got a look at the check. He'd just say, "I’ve got two words for you: Harry Potter." And he became known for doing that.
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  (#9) He Met With Friends Over Pizza To Rewrite Bad Scenes In 'Robin Hood'

  In 1991, Rickman portrayed the evil Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In 2015, Rickman admitted that he and his friends rewrote some of the film's "terrible" scenes over dinner at Pizza Express. Comedian Ruby Wax and playwright Peter Barnes recall rewriting one scene in particular that ended up becoming perhaps the most memorable - and funniest - in the film.

  According to Rickman, Barnes told him, "You should have a wench in a doorway, and then you should say, 'You. My room, 10:30,' and then turn to the other wench and say, 'You, 10:45.''' Wax then told him to add the line, "And bring a friend." Director Kevin Reynolds put it in the movie.
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  (#8) While Directing Kate Winslet, He Changed An Entire Scene At Her Request

  Rickman was also a director; his film credits include the Emma Thompson-led ensemble drama The Winter Guest and A Little Chaos starring Kate Winslet. Winslet revealed that during the filming of the latter, Rickman listened to her as an actor and was willing to change an entire scene because it didn't make sense to her.

  Winslet's character was supposed to destroy her garden as an act of self-loathing, a move the actress questioned. Rickman told the Los Angeles Times, "I sat in a chair and found a little corner. I thought, 'She is right to ask the question.'"

  According to Winslet, "He changed it all. He changed the set to accommodate the idea. He was amazing like that."
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  (#10) While Filming 'Something The Lord Made,' He Visited The American Visionary Art Museum

  Author Katie McCabe, who wrote the book on which Rickman's 2004 film, Something the Lord Made, was based, remembered how Rickman was significantly affected by a visit to the American Visionary Art Museum during filming. The museum features art made by trauma survivors.

  McCabe wrote about Rickman's experience with art on Jack Klimpert's blog:

  Rickman clearly knew art, and loved it, maybe more than he did theater, he said, because that’s where he’d started, at art school, when he was 18. What moved me was his feeling about these anonymous artists who had created out of their pain. He seemed to be talking about himself.
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  (#11) He Posed For A Photo In His Codpiece During The Filming Of 'Dogma'

  In Kevin Smith's Dogma, Rickman portrayed the "Voice of God." The codpiece Rickman wore to represent his genderless character amused him. Subsequently, Rickman humorously posed for a photo wearing the same prosthetic as his character in the movie. 

  After Rickman passed, Smith posted the story to his Facebook page, writing: 

  Alan was the first non-friend who signed up to the flick, but he became a great friend in record time. In this pic, he holds the Ken doll his Dogma character's lack of genitalia was modeled after. I'll never forget his incredible dulcet tones guffawing at the rubber crotch makeup he was wearing: one of the greatest actors who ever lived, tickled by a cinematic lack of a d*ck.

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