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(#1) He Offered Advice To The Young Actors
Rickman was aware firsthand that show business could be a rocky place to make a living, especially for young actors. A few of his co-stars have mentioned how he gave them career - and life - advice. Matthew Lewis (who played Neville Longbottom in Harry Potter) said, "He offered me some of the greatest advice I ever received about this mad profession we shared... He inspired my career more than he ever knew."
Devon Murray (Seamus Finnigan in HP) called Rickman his "role model." Sean Biggerstaff, who played Oliver Wood, tweeted, "He looked out for me for 20 years and I loved him."
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(#2) He Often Visited With Children On Set
Rickman was perhaps, in some regards, intimidating to his colleagues, but they were also quick to point out that he was exceedingly kind and giving. He would often chat with children who visited the sets of the Harry Potter films.
"Alan Rickman, pretty much every day of filming, he had a whole troop of little children [visiting]," Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) recalled. She continued:
It was the most bizarre scene to see Snape in this black robe, usually with, like, a bib on - we had to wear these bibs so we didn't ruin our costume - surrounded by all these happy little children who were just chatting away to him.
In the words of Rupert Grint, Rickman was "a great gentleman."
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(#3) He Listened To His iPod In Some Of The Great Hall Scenes
During some of the Great Hall scenes where Snape was seated at the head of the table, Rickman would sneak an iPod into his voluminous cape and listen to music during filming. "I could just see, sneaking behind his wig and down into his robes, the white wire of some iPod headphones," recalled actor Warwick Davis, who played Professor Flitwick.
He was just quietly listening to something, and I started to wonder, what does Alan Rickman as Professor Snape listen to on his iPod? An audiobook? Some Shakespeare? Some classical music? Europop? Some techno beats? I don’t know. I never did ask him, and I wish I had. I'd love to have known.
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(#4) He Made Sure A Child With Cancer Who Visited The Set Got To Be An Extra In One Of The Films
During the filming of Prisoner of Azkaban, a teenager named Jay who had a diagnosis of late-stage neuroblastoma visited the set. Rickman made certain the boy appeared in the movie. As producer Paula DuPré Pesman remembered:
[What Jay] really wanted was to be in the film, not just visiting. I said, "Well, we can't really do that, and you're already here." Alan came over and introduced himself to Jay, and Jay was so happy to meet him. He was really knowledgeable. He was about 15 at the time, and he knew a lot about Alan's other films, and Jay mentioned to Alan that what he really wanted to do was be in the film.
Alan looked at me, and he 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.
Jay stood in a scene of Prisoner of Azkaban during Professor Lupin's (David Thewlis) boggart class. While the scene ultimately did not make the cut for the big screen, Rickman's gesture was not lost on Jay.
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(#5) He Kept A Funny Sketch Of Himself Drawn By Rupert Grint During Filming
Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley in Harry Potter) was doodling caricatures while on set one day. As he was working on one of Rickman, Grint had no idea that Snape himself was looking over his shoulder. "I was so scared," Grint said, because in the sketch he had "exaggerated a few of his features." But Rickman was not upset in the slightest - the exact opposite, in fact.
"I made him sign it, and I have it in my possession," Rickman said proudly. "I'm very fond of it."
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(#6) He Played A Fart Joke On Daniel Radcliffe During Filming
During Prisoner of Azkaban, Rickman had some fun by pulling an epic prank on Daniel Radcliffe. The scene was a sleepover in the Great Hall, where Harry and his friends all had sleeping bags. Rickman, actor Michael Gambon (Dumbledore), and director Alfonso Cuarón hid a remote-controlled fart machine inside Radcliffe's sleeping bag, and they made certain it let out all sorts of unfortunate sounds at inconvenient times.
"I immediately thought: 'This is one of the other kids [messing] around, and we were going to get in trouble,'" Radcliffe later said. "But as it turns out, it was one of the members of Britain's acting royalty."
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(#7) His Method Acting Intimidated - And Impressed - The Kid Actors On Set
Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood, remembered with a laugh that Rickman "was a method actor, so we were all pretty much terrified of him on set. I just remember him being creepy around the corridors. He didn't smile, and everyone talked about him in a reverent tone." Tom Felton, who portrayed Draco Malfoy, concurred:
I remember my first scene with Alan Rickman and I was anxious because he is a slight "method" actor; as soon as he is in his cloak, he walks and talks like Snape - it is quite terrifying...
After I plucked up the courage, we chatted for about half an hour, and he told me where he got his inspiration from and how he thinks of approaching his lines. It is fascinating for a young actor to be able to talk to your heroes like that. It is priceless.
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(#8) He Treated Daniel Radcliffe Like A Peer, Not A Child
After Rickman's passing, many of his co-stars from Harry Potter and beyond came out to pay homage. Daniel Radcliffe, AKA Harry Potter himself, penned a powerful tribute in which he hailed Rickman as "undoubtedly one of the greatest actors I will ever work with" and "one of the loyalest and most supportive people I've ever met in the film industry." He went on:
As an actor he was one of the first of the adults on Potter to treat me like a peer rather than a child. Working with him at such a formative age was incredibly important, and I will carry the lessons he taught me for the rest of my life and career. Film sets and theater stages are all far poorer for the loss of this great actor and man.
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(#9) He Helped Design His Snape Costume
Snape's billowing cape is one of the character's hallmarks. During the design stage, Rickman gave his input on how the costume should ultimately look. "I was very involved in the costume and the look," he told The New York Times. "I said the sleeves should be really tight, and there should be a lot of buttons."
Rickman admitted the finished product contributed to his understanding of the character. "As soon as I put that costume on something happens. You can't be someone else inside that outline," he said. "It has an effect on me."
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(#10) He Apparently Didn't Let The Young Actors Near His Car After One Spilled A Milkshake Inside
Rickman forbade Rupert Grint and Matthew Lewis from coming within five meters of his new BMW during the filming of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The reason? During the making of one of the prior movies, the two were playing around in Rickman's previous car, and one of them spilled a milkshake inside.
As one Redditor (and Harry Potter fan) put it: "The idea that Alan Rickman was taking Rupert Grint and Matthew Lewis out for milkshake makes me so happy. He seemed like such a nice guy."
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(#11) He Gave Daniel Radcliffe A Copy Of 'The Catcher In The Rye'
In 2018, a collection of Rickman's personal letters was made public. One of them was a thank-you from Daniel Radcliffe, to whom Rickman gifted a copy of The Catcher in the Rye. "I can't wait to read it," Radcliffe wrote. The letters also revealed that Rickman was sometimes unsatisfied with portraying Snape.
"I know, at times, you are frustrated, but please know that you are an integral part of the films," producer David Heyman wrote to him. "And you are brilliant."
His letters were auctioned off at the ABA Rare Book Fair in London in May 2018. According to Architectural Digest, the letters got sold as a collection and included letters from Tony Blair, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, and even Prince Charles.
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(#12) He Wore Black Contact Lenses
Not only did Snape's trademark cape have an effect on Rickman and how he played the character, so, too, did the color of Snape's eyes. "Every year, for seven weeks, I would wear black contact lenses, finding an old friend again and a part of myself," Rickman once said.
Mike Newell, who directed Goblet of Fire, complimented Rickman on the rich color of his eyes. Rickman reportedly responded by popping out one of the lenses.
The dark contacts no doubt helped Rickman feel more devious as Snape. "Holding a wand is not the most threatening thing," he said. "Thank God for the sheets of flame [that were added as CGI later]!"
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(#13) The Costume Department Secretly Made His Costume Bigger After He Gained Weight
Little did Rickman know, but the Harry Potter costumers were letting out his Snape cape whenever he returned from vacation. "Every time Alan Rickman was going to holidays in Tuscany and coming back with two or three extra kilos, we made it bigger without telling him," designer Jany Temime said. "That's the only thing we did, but it was the same costume."
Of all the looks and costumes in the Harry Potter movies, Snape's was the only one that remained largely unchanged - except for the increased size, of course.
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(#14) In His Diaries, He Expressed Hesitation About Continuing To Play Snape
In September 2022, The Guardian printed excerpts from Rickman's 26 volumes of daily diaries, which included many comments about the Harry Potter series, actors, directors, and Rickman's feelings about playing Severus Snape. At times he expressed hesitation about the role.
On December 4, 2002, he wrote:
Talking to [agent] Paul Lyon-Maris about [Harry Potter] 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.
Four years later, he seemed okay with seeing the role through to the end. On January 30, 2006, he wrote:
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 wrote about his death scene as Snape on November 26, 2009:
The Death of Snape. Nearly 10 years later. At least it’s just down to two actors … [Director] David [Yates] is vulnerable and endearing when he’s excited. And he is by this scene. It’s the absolute example of what can happen when a couple of actors pick up a scene off the page and work with the story, the space and each other. Stuart Craig’s boathouse [set] gave it something ironic and everlasting. As I said at one point to David - it’s all a bit epic and Japanese.
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(#15) Timothy Spall Said He Charmed His Mother-In-Law
During a Looper interview for his film The Last Bus in 2022, actor Timothy Spall, who played Peter Pettigrew, said that although his former Harry Potter co-star was “brilliant” at playing “sinister" and "formidable” characters, “[t]he man himself was so different; [he] was so warm… so kind, and genuinely kind.”
Rickman, Spall said, often brought children to visit the set even on days he wasn't working, and was particularly kind to Spall's mother-in-law:
On one occasion, he met my mother-in-law, who was with my wife. He wasn't used to meeting really anybody, apart from me, and he was absolutely charming with her.
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