Alan Rickman’s decade-long journey through the “Harry Potter” franchise is revealed in excerpts from his diaries that were released by the media.
These excerpts also provide insight into why Rickman chose to continue playing Severus Snape in all eight “Harry Potter” movies.
Rickman had to deal with health concerns before “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” the fifth installment in the series, could start filming. In 2005, the actor was identified as having an aggressive type of prostate cancer and started receiving treatment. Later, his entire prostate was removed by doctors, who performed the procedure at Nashville, Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center in January of the following year.
Rickman revealed in a diary entry he had made some weeks after being discharged from the hospital that he had decided to continue working as the infamous professor of dismal potions.
“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,’” he wrote.
The actor added that he had always been aware of the tragic love story between his character and Harry Potter’s mother, Lily, in a 2007 recording of his views on his character’s death as it was described in J.K. Rowling’s final book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
“… I have finished reading the last ‘Harry Potter’ book,” he wrote at the time. “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.”
In a separate essay on their initial encounter, Rickman said that Rowling turned to him for advice regarding the development of Snape’s persona.
“She nervously lets me in on a few glimpses of Snape’s background. Talking to her is talking to someone who lives these stories, not invents them,” Rickman wrote in 2000.
Rickman also shared his thoughts after leaving the premiere of the first installment of the trilogy, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.”
“The film should only be seen on a big screen,” Rickman wrote. “It acquires a scale and depth that matches the hideous score by John Williams. Party afterwards at the Savoy is much more fun.”
In October, Henry Holt and Company will publish “Madly Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman,” a compilation of Rickman’s handwritten journals, as was originally announced in June.
In addition to “Truly, Madly, Deeply,” “Galaxy Quest,” “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Love Actually,” and “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” Rickman has portrayed a variety of characters in classic movies across many genres. Rickman first gained fame as the villain Hans Gruber in 1988’s “Die Hard.” The British actor became well-known due to his depiction of the complex Professor Severus Snape in each “Harry Potter” film.
Age 69, Rickman passed away in London on January 14, 2016. Before his passing, the adored actor was fighting pancreatic cancer.