Alan Rickman • 10 oktober 2000

• (1946-2016) was een Britse acteur (met een memorabele stem), die vooral bekend is geworden door zijn rol van Snape in de Harry Potter-films. Zijn showbizz diaries zijn onlangs verschenen. Onderstaand fragment gaat over de aanloop naar de eerste HP-film.

23 August
6.30pm Pile into the car and drive to Siena to get to Il Campo before dark. To the Patio Bar where, around 8pm, I called LA and said OK to HP [Harry Potter].

24 August
Around the pool and feeling a bit nothing about HP which really disturbs me – or is it because I’m reading Martin Amis’s Experience which charts A Life …

6 September
A day by the pool. Talking to Judy [Hofflund, Rickman’s manager] – the bargaining goes on … (HP).
Lightning in the mountains.

10 September
Perfect day. Still, sunny. To the pool. Finish [reading] HP 1, start 2.

21 September
HARRY P TAKES OFF.
10.30am Car to costume fitting/discussion. Measurements from hell after a month in Italy. Waltz around each other – higher collar? Blue fabric? Thinner arms? And off to Leavesden Studios. Chris Columbus [director], David Heyman [producer], Makeup dept waiting. Wig? Nose?

6 October
First conversation with Joanne Rowling. Her sister answers – “She’s not here – can I leave a message?” [There is] cackling in the background … “Sorry about that! … ” [I tell her:] “There are things that only Snape & you know – I need to know … ” “You’re right [she replies] – call me tomorrow; no one else knows these things.”

7 October
Talk to Joanne Rowling again and 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. She’s a channel – bubbling over with, “Well, when he was young, you see, this, that and the other happened” – never, “I wanted so & so … “

8 October
2pm Ruby [Wax], [husband and film/TV producer] Ed [Bye] & kids, Harbour Club. One of [Ruby’s son] Max’s friends is an indication of what’s to come. “Are you Snape?”

10 October
HARRY POTTER BEGINS.
11am Kings X for train to Newcastle, and then car to Alnwick Castle [AKA Hogwarts] and a (three-hour … ) makeup for camera test. Criss-crossing of pluses and minuses – pale face = v ageing; false nose-piece needs heavy makeup etc. General atmosphere is friendly and a mite chaotic.
7.45pm To the tapas restaurant with Sean [Biggerstaff] and Robbie Coltrane for many plates of deep-fried indulgences before going to the hotel for red wine and a bag of chocolates from the mini-bar. Hopeless …