0:00:15 > 0:00:20Once described as cinema's greatest silver tongued devil,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Alan Rickman was one of Britain's finest,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26best loved and most versatile acting talents.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30For theatre lovers, he was an actor whose commitment to the stage was
0:00:30 > 0:00:34constant, even when Hollywood tried its hardest to tempt him away.
0:00:35 > 0:00:42For film fans, he made ordinary roles extraordinary.
0:00:42 > 0:00:43No more merciful beheadings...
0:00:45 > 0:00:47And call off Christmas!
0:00:47 > 0:00:53And he brought both quality and class to some of our most popular
0:00:53 > 0:00:55and enduring movies.
0:00:55 > 0:00:56And for fellow actors, well,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00Alan may have been one of the great scene stealers,
0:01:00 > 0:01:02but he was both mentor and friend to many.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07And who could resist that voice!
0:01:07 > 0:01:10I can tell you how to bottle fame,
0:01:10 > 0:01:15brew glory and even put a stopper in death.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21People are intimidated by Al because he is so extraordinary as an actor
0:01:21 > 0:01:25and as a director as well, I can say that, and you do have that voice,
0:01:25 > 0:01:27and people go, "Oh, that voice!"
0:01:27 > 0:01:29I mean, everyone I know, certainly the women, go...
0:01:29 > 0:01:31"Oh, that voice!"
0:01:31 > 0:01:33But he isn't hard to read.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37He's actually a bit of a big old softie, to be honest.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44That interview took place when Alan was promoting A Little Chaos,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47the period drama he directed and co-wrote.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52It would be one of the last films Alan appeared in,
0:01:52 > 0:01:58before his unexpected death at the age of 69 in January, 2016,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01shocked the acting world and left fans bereft.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07For an actor who grabbed your attention in every scene,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Alan Rickman certainly took his time getting onto the big screen.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16For a decade he was a leading light at the Royal Shakespeare Company,
0:02:16 > 0:02:19and a regular in television and radio dramas.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23Film stardom only came when he was in his 40s.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26After he played the villainous Valmont in a stage production of
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
0:02:29 > 0:02:35It was a hit in London, a sensation on Broadway, and in 1988, suddenly,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Hollywood was paying attention.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42A big budget adventure starring opposite Bruce Willis
0:02:42 > 0:02:46wasn't an obvious first film for a serious thespian.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49But Die Hard would come to be considered one of cinema's greatest
0:02:49 > 0:02:52action movies thanks, in no small part,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55to Alan's extraordinary performance
0:02:55 > 0:02:59as the terrorist leader, Hans Gruber.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01Fire.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07I was bowled over by just watching
0:03:07 > 0:03:12his... just the theatricality of how he played this role.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15And I went back to LA, and I explained to
0:03:15 > 0:03:22John McTiernan, who was working with me, and planning to do Die Hard,
0:03:22 > 0:03:24how effective I thought Alan was.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28SCREAMING
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Ladies and gentlemen...
0:03:37 > 0:03:38Ladies and gentlemen...
0:03:45 > 0:03:50..due to the Nakatomi Corporation's legacy of greed around the globe,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53they are about to be taught a lesson in the real use of power.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57You will be witnesses.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01We were very, very lucky when we got Alan,
0:04:01 > 0:04:06because it kind of set the stage for that kind of evolution of bad guy.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10I read it, and I said, "What the hell is this?
0:04:10 > 0:04:11"I'm not doing an action movie!"
0:04:11 > 0:04:13LAUGHTER
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Agents and people said, "Alan, you don't understand,
0:04:16 > 0:04:18"this doesn't happen.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20"You've only been in LA two days and you've been asked to do this film."
0:04:20 > 0:04:25OK. I suppose ignorance was bliss in a way,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28it reminds me of the discussions that went on,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31which must have been out of me being stupid,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35because I was being fitted for all this terrorist gear,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39in the early days of the putting of the film together.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41And I said,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44"why would I be wearing this when I've got all these huge hulks
0:04:44 > 0:04:46"who are going to do all the dirty work?"
0:04:46 > 0:04:51I was just thinking, you know, if I was wearing a suit,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55and not all of this terrorist gear, then maybe there could be a scene
0:04:55 > 0:04:58where I put on an American accent,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00and he thinks I'm one of the hostages.
0:05:05 > 0:05:06Hi there.
0:05:06 > 0:05:07How you doing?
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Oh, please God,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18no, you're one of them, aren't you? You're one of them!
0:05:18 > 0:05:21No, no, don't kill me, please, no, don't kill me,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25don't kill me, please, please, please!
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Whoa, whoa, relax, relax, I'm not gonna hurt you,
0:05:28 > 0:05:29I'm not gonna hurt you.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33And I left this note on Joel Silver's table, saying,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36"Please think about this, I think it might be interesting."
0:05:36 > 0:05:39And then I went back to England. I kind of got the Joel Silver,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42"Get the hell out of here, you'll wear what you're told."
0:05:44 > 0:05:46OK, fine. Then I came back.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48And they handed me the new script.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53So, you know, it just pays to occasionally use
0:05:53 > 0:05:56a little bit of theatre training when you're doing a movie,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59what did he have for breakfast, where did he come from?
0:05:59 > 0:06:02And, you know, I'm going to look ridiculous in those costumes.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05And then,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07I remember, towards the end of the shooting, they said, we do have,
0:06:07 > 0:06:11we have this shot, they came to me sort of not looking me quite in the eyes,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14we've got the shot at the end, you know, you've got to fall from
0:06:14 > 0:06:16the top of the building.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21And, um, you know, we could use a stand in but, of course, if we use the stand in,
0:06:21 > 0:06:25we'd have to put it on the back of his head, going down that way.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27I thought about it, I said, "I'll do it."
0:06:29 > 0:06:32This is before the days of CGI.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Now, anybody'd do it, because you would be falling nowhere,
0:06:37 > 0:06:40and they would blow your clothes in a computer.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43That had to be done for real.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46So, I said, "How do we do this?"
0:06:46 > 0:06:48They said, "Well, OK, well, we'll train you..."
0:06:48 > 0:06:50LAUGHTER
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Which meant one afternoon, I think, of dropping from ten feet,
0:06:53 > 0:06:5615 feet, 20 feet, 30 feet.
0:06:56 > 0:06:57And so on.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01I remember the guy who was doing it saying, "OK,
0:07:01 > 0:07:03"what you've got to remember is..."
0:07:03 > 0:07:06I had to pull my own cord to release me,
0:07:06 > 0:07:10I had to remember to bring the gun up and get it in the frame,
0:07:10 > 0:07:14and then he said, "As you're going down,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18"make sure you spread your arms into a kind of star shape,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21"because if you don't, you'll start turning,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23"and you'll land on your head and kill yourself."
0:07:23 > 0:07:26LAUGHTER
0:07:26 > 0:07:28So it was sort of challenging...
0:07:28 > 0:07:32We did it three times, at three o'clock in the morning,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36it was the very last shot of mine in the film.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38Just in case...
0:07:39 > 0:07:41SCREAMING
0:08:17 > 0:08:20Oh, I hope that's not a hostage...
0:08:27 > 0:08:28Bruce Willis later said that
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Alan's character should never have been killed off,
0:08:31 > 0:08:33and called him the best bad guy
0:08:33 > 0:08:36he'd ever seen in his life.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40The rest of Hollywood was smitten, too, and to his surprise,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42Alan would find himself more enamoured with Los Angeles
0:08:42 > 0:08:45than he ever expected to be.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51You used to rail against having to go to Hollywood,
0:08:51 > 0:08:52to make big movies.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54Do you still do that?
0:08:54 > 0:08:55Do you say, "It's awful that we all have to
0:08:55 > 0:08:57"toddle off to Hollywood?"
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Do you still wish these kinds of movies could be made by British...
0:09:00 > 0:09:04We all say lots of stupid things that you wish you could...
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Which we religiously dig into and bring up again years later.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09I'd like to rub them out. But there they are,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12you're hoist by your own petard all the time.
0:09:13 > 0:09:19Well, I now have some experience of a town that I'm actually very fond of.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21And it's filled with very close friends.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23- LA?- Yes.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25I mean, I don't... if I go there,
0:09:25 > 0:09:29I have a kind of rule, which is, don't read the trades,
0:09:29 > 0:09:33the trade magazines, and don't go to any many premieres and parties, and all of that,
0:09:33 > 0:09:39so I work there and I live there and I see my friends and I travel.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42There is an LA without premieres and parties?
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Well, you've got to get on your bike a bit!
0:09:46 > 0:09:49If you can find a bike, or in a car, or walk, yes, absolutely.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Fantastic countryside. And great people.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58You said it was awful and is disgusting at the same time.
0:09:58 > 0:09:59That's true, too.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Well, wonderful and disgusting, probably, at the same time.
0:10:07 > 0:10:13Wonderful and disgusting could be used to describe two of Alan's roles
0:10:13 > 0:10:16in two very different films,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18that both came out in 1991
0:10:18 > 0:10:21and highlighted his range and versatility.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24For disgusting,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27was his portrayal of the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
0:10:30 > 0:10:37And wonderful came in Truly Madly Deeply, in which Alan was Jamie,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41a ghost, and the recently deceased lover of Nina,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43who was played by Juliet Stevenson.
0:10:43 > 0:10:49The director was Anthony Minghella, who shared Alan's theatre background,
0:10:49 > 0:10:54and whose style would later influence Alan's own directing work.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56# Jamie
0:10:56 > 0:11:00# Sun ain't gonna shine any more
0:11:00 > 0:11:04# Moon ain't gonna rise in the skies
0:11:04 > 0:11:09# The tears are always clouding your eyes
0:11:09 > 0:11:16BOTH: # When you're without love
0:11:16 > 0:11:19# Baby. #
0:11:19 > 0:11:21Looking at it, I'm thinking,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24"Well, you know, it's a good representation of what he could do,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26"which was basically everything.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29Make people cry, make people laugh, make people fall in love with him,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32very sexy, delicious, surprising, challenging.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34I mean, you kind of see.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38He could do anything, and you kind of get some sense of his range, I think, in that film.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42The great gift of making that film with him was a very clever bit of
0:11:42 > 0:11:46casting by Anthony Minghella because we'd known each other a long time,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49and I always thought of him, like many people,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52as a sort of family member more than a friend, even.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57So we had a lot of history and I think that played in quite well to the story of the film.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00But he was an incredibly inventive person to work with.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02I mean, very, very creative, thinking all the time
0:12:02 > 0:12:04about the bigger picture.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07He had his eye on everything, you know, what the camera was doing,
0:12:07 > 0:12:08what the design was.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13He thought, he thought very big and he had many,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16many kinds of talent that could address themselves to all sorts of
0:12:16 > 0:12:17different parts of the job.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20So he had a lot to offer in every department, really.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24He was more than an actor, he was an inspiration to pretty much everyone
0:12:24 > 0:12:29on that crew, as I'm sure he was on every crew, really.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33And that wasn't the only occasion when Anthony Minghella allowed the
0:12:33 > 0:12:37skills of his two lead actors to determine the flow of a key scene.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41There was a very difficult moment in that film
0:12:41 > 0:12:44where she first sees Jamie, and...
0:12:47 > 0:12:50..I remember him saying, there's no way we can rehearse this.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53And so he just put enough cameras around the room,
0:12:53 > 0:12:58and we didn't know what we were going to do, it was never rehearsed.
0:12:58 > 0:12:59It was never blocked.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02It was just down to...
0:13:04 > 0:13:07..I'm there, I'm standing there, Juliet turns round,
0:13:07 > 0:13:09then what happens happens.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20SHE GASPS
0:13:23 > 0:13:26SHE WEEPS
0:13:39 > 0:13:42SHE CRIES Jamie!
0:13:44 > 0:13:47His role in Truly Madly Deeply earned Alan
0:13:47 > 0:13:51a BAFTA nomination for that year's Best Lead Actor.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55In the end he went home that night with a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58for his scene-stealing Sheriff of Nottingham.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01A role he only took after being promised an unusual amount
0:14:01 > 0:14:03of artistic freedom.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06Here's a true story:
0:14:06 > 0:14:13I had a habit of going and having lunch with a very great writer,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16playwright, now dead, sadly, called Peter Barnes,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18and I knew I was going to do Robin Hood and I said,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21"Will you have a look at this script, because it's terrible."
0:14:21 > 0:14:23LAUGHTER
0:14:23 > 0:14:25And I need some good lines.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27He said, "Well, you know,
0:14:27 > 0:14:29"here, where it says,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33"you're coming down the corridor and you're wiping
0:14:33 > 0:14:36"the scar off of the statue.
0:14:36 > 0:14:43"You should have a wench in a doorway and then you should say, 'You, my room, ten thirty',
0:14:43 > 0:14:48"and then turn to the other wench, 'and you, ten forty five.'
0:14:48 > 0:14:50So I'm going, "You, my room...
0:14:50 > 0:14:52LAUGHTER
0:14:52 > 0:14:57I'd also given the script to Ruby Wax, who's a great friend of mine.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02And I'd said to her, "Will you read this script and come up with some lines?"
0:15:02 > 0:15:05She came round to my house. I said, "Have you read the script?" "No, I didn't have time.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08"Just say the lines to me."
0:15:08 > 0:15:11So I said, "Well, today, Peter Barnes said,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15"have a wench there, 'you, my room, ten thirty, you, ten forty-five.'
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Immediately she said, 'and bring a friend.'
0:15:18 > 0:15:20LAUGHTER
0:15:20 > 0:15:22And bring a friend.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24APPLAUSE
0:15:25 > 0:15:30And when I presented this to Kevin Reynolds, he'd learned, by then,
0:15:30 > 0:15:32not to tell the producers.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36For whatever reason.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38And not to tell the crew or anything.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43And so he set this up for me to do it and I said, "Look,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45"I'll say these lines, you put the women in there,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48"I'll say the lines and then I'll just clear the frame at the end of the line."
0:15:48 > 0:15:51Nobody knew this was happening except him.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54And I knew it had worked because as I cleared the camera,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57I saw about 80 members of the crew just go...
0:15:57 > 0:15:59LAUGHTER
0:16:00 > 0:16:05This hooded viper simply slithers into the forest.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07You, my room, ten thirty, tonight.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10You, ten forty-five.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12And bring a friend.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15And then occasionally Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18who was being sort of seriously Maid Marian,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22she'd come over to do one of the scenes with us, and she'd say,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24"I want to be in his film!"
0:16:29 > 0:16:33Clearly Alan was an actor whose opinion and input were highly
0:16:33 > 0:16:35valued by directors.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39And further evidence of that could be found in this excerpt from a BBC
0:16:39 > 0:16:44documentary, filmed on the set of the 1994 film Mesmer,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48directed by Roger Spottiswoode.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53It starred Alan as a charismatic Austrian hypnotist and this
0:16:53 > 0:16:57behind-the-scenes study gives an insight into how he worked
0:16:57 > 0:16:59and involved himself with the production.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03The more films that one does,
0:17:03 > 0:17:07the more you get a sense of how the camera can
0:17:07 > 0:17:15reflect or contradict the story that you have going on in your head.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19But then you've also got to set that against the way that a director's
0:17:19 > 0:17:21vision is not necessarily yours,
0:17:21 > 0:17:26and can take yours and reshape it and make it into something more interesting.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28So that is why I don't go to rushes.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31But that is also why
0:17:31 > 0:17:32you know, like yesterday, I was saying,
0:17:32 > 0:17:36"please don't put camera so low, because it means it's already got an attitude."
0:17:36 > 0:17:38The feeling is wonderful.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42And in this one it's nice, the hand, how it's coming out, and going...
0:17:45 > 0:17:50What I enjoy is getting onto the set and seeing what happens on the day,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53with the other actors and the director,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57and myself, and not having predicted it too much.
0:17:57 > 0:17:58Usually there isn't a rehearsal.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01You have to use that as a plus and not a minus.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06It is actually a minus, of course, because, truth be told,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09people who say we can't afford to rehearse,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13are actually wasting money because we'd all get there much quicker if
0:18:13 > 0:18:16everybody had a sense of where they were going.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18But having said that, there is...
0:18:18 > 0:18:21you know, it's a bit like watercolours, or something,
0:18:21 > 0:18:26you have to work fast, and it's a unique way of working.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31I'm just trying to work out the various options that I have.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33Amanda and I are kind of
0:18:33 > 0:18:40the book ends of the scene, but what she has to do is entirely emotional.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43And what I have to do is almost entirely technical.
0:18:50 > 0:18:51Just seems like she could
0:18:51 > 0:18:56keep talking, and I have to stop...
0:18:56 > 0:18:59- You had to....?- Sort of.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03And I'm saying now it's flowing straight and clear into...
0:19:03 > 0:19:06And I shouldn't really be moving,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09I should have just picked her up and got her there.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13- And then you...- And sat down.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16I can't explain, I mean it's just the timing of lines.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19Just the timing of the lines...
0:19:20 > 0:19:27Makes that quality Alan's fans so adored, and it sounds so simple.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31He was a master of nuance and when he spoke, you had to listen.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34But what about when he sang?
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Well, here he is, discussing that particular challenge,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42which he encountered when cast with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter
0:19:42 > 0:19:46in Tim Burton's 2007 version of
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Stephen Sondheim's musical, Sweeney Todd.
0:19:53 > 0:19:58Get on phone, ring up singing teacher, get on bus,
0:19:58 > 0:20:03go see him and basically be abused...
0:20:03 > 0:20:07..on a long-term basis, by the singing teacher, Mark Meylan who,
0:20:07 > 0:20:11basically he works in large doses of deep sarcasm
0:20:11 > 0:20:17to get you anywhere near something vaguely acceptable.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19# You see, sir,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22# A man infatuate with love Her ardent and eager slave
0:20:22 > 0:20:25# So fetch the pomade and pumice stone
0:20:25 > 0:20:27# And lend me a more seductive tone
0:20:27 > 0:20:30# A sprinkling perhaps of French cologne
0:20:30 > 0:20:33# But first, sir, I think
0:20:33 > 0:20:36A shave. #
0:20:36 > 0:20:39'It requires a bit of planning,
0:20:39 > 0:20:44'which is like making sure that Johnny Depp records his first,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47'because he's singing the tune and you're going to be singing sort of
0:20:47 > 0:20:52'underneath it. So don't make the mistake of doing yours before you've
0:20:52 > 0:20:53'heard what he's doing.'
0:20:53 > 0:20:58# Revenge can't be taken in haste
0:20:58 > 0:21:01# Make haste, and if we wed, you'll be commended, sir
0:21:01 > 0:21:02# My lord. #
0:21:02 > 0:21:06'Make sure that your singing teacher is there with you.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09'Make sure that you get there 45 minutes before
0:21:09 > 0:21:11'you're going to record so that he can
0:21:11 > 0:21:16'boot you up to the notes that are otherwise unreachable.'
0:21:16 > 0:21:19# Pretty women
0:21:19 > 0:21:21# Silhouetted
0:21:21 > 0:21:24# Stay within you
0:21:24 > 0:21:27# Glances
0:21:27 > 0:21:28# Stay forever
0:21:28 > 0:21:30# Breathing lightly. #
0:21:30 > 0:21:34'Then it's recorded and that's that, and now it's lip-syncing.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36'Which I suppose because one worked so hard,
0:21:36 > 0:21:42'that by the time you're lip-syncing, it's so kind of glued to your brain,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44'lip-syncing seems to be the least of your problems,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48'because there is no way you're going to stretch a note or...
0:21:48 > 0:21:49'It's difficult music.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51'It's brilliant, brilliant music.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54'But the match of music and lyrics is so complex and so...
0:21:57 > 0:21:59'..unique.'
0:21:59 > 0:22:04# Times is 'ard. #
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Stephen Sondheim himself loves it.
0:22:09 > 0:22:14So take your purism and do what you want with it, because
0:22:14 > 0:22:19there's not much more purist than Stephen Sondheim himself.
0:22:21 > 0:22:27Sweeney Todd wasn't the only film experience that Alan had with Helena Bonham Carter.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31Both played followers of the evil Lord Voldemort in the
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Harry Potter series.
0:22:33 > 0:22:39Alan's scheming Professor Severus Snape became one of the most important
0:22:39 > 0:22:42in JK Rowling's epic story.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46Here he is talking about being part of the Potter phenomena,
0:22:46 > 0:22:50just before the opening of the very first film in 2001.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54Whenever I was on the set and children were coming in and visiting,
0:22:54 > 0:22:58the endless refrain was, "Wow, it's just like the book."
0:22:58 > 0:23:03And I think that was certainly Chris Columbus's and the producer's aim,
0:23:03 > 0:23:07to be faithful to JK Rowling's imagination.
0:23:07 > 0:23:12And I think given the fact that at the end of the screening last night,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15the entire cinema stood up and cheered, I guess they've done it.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17That's their reaction, but what about yours?
0:23:17 > 0:23:20Is it worth the hype, in your view?
0:23:21 > 0:23:26Well, it's worth any amount of hype to get children to read again,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29and in these kind of numbers.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32And to have that kind of passion about sitting down in a corner turning
0:23:32 > 0:23:36pages of a book, instead of, you know,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41pressing on computer keys all the time and just playing PlayStations.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Did you buy into the fantasy?
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Buy into it in what sense? I mean, I found...
0:23:47 > 0:23:52I remember you saying once in order to be really good at something, you have to be wholly absorbed by it.
0:23:52 > 0:23:58Well, when I read the book, I didn't stop turning the pages.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00So yes. In that sense.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02It's a great story of...
0:24:02 > 0:24:05..in a long line of, a long tradition
0:24:05 > 0:24:07of that kind of storytelling.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Are you amazed that it's going to set box office records?
0:24:11 > 0:24:12Merchandising as well?
0:24:14 > 0:24:16No, I'm not amazed.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18It's caught the public imagination,
0:24:18 > 0:24:23and, I mean, in a sense the hype is incidental.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26The hype is hanging on to the coat-tails of something
0:24:26 > 0:24:28sort of elemental.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32It was a huge vote of confidence in this film, the Harry Potter film,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35that it was an entire British cast, wasn't it?
0:24:35 > 0:24:40Well, it was a measure of JK Rowling's power.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Because it wasn't going to be that way.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45- She insisted on it.- Mhmm.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47How hard a fight was that?
0:24:47 > 0:24:50I think if it's in her contract, she just...
0:24:50 > 0:24:53She just dug her heels in, you know.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57She's got a wonderful sense of when to say no.
0:24:57 > 0:24:58Mr Potter.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04Our new celebrity.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08Tell me, what would I get if I added
0:25:08 > 0:25:11powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?
0:25:15 > 0:25:18You don't know? Well, let's try again.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22Where, Mr Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?
0:25:23 > 0:25:27- I don't know, sir. - And what is the difference between monkswood and wolfbane?
0:25:31 > 0:25:32I don't know, sir.
0:25:34 > 0:25:35Pity.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41Clearly, fame isn't everything.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Is it, Mr Potter?
0:25:45 > 0:25:46What does it say, the part?
0:25:46 > 0:25:51What does it say about the point you've reached in your career?
0:25:51 > 0:25:52- Harry Potter?- Yes.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55Did it stretch you? Did you get a buzz out of it?
0:25:55 > 0:25:57No, not hugely.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59It's great fun to be part of something
0:25:59 > 0:26:04that's going to be a kind of marker point, I suppose, in cinema history.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08Whatever people make of the film
0:26:08 > 0:26:10on, you know, on any critical level,
0:26:10 > 0:26:14it's an event, like the Beatles.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19So will it, as events sometimes do, open more doors, is that the idea?
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Is that why you took the part?
0:26:21 > 0:26:25No. I mean at this point in time, I kind of do what interests me.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28And where I feel that I'm going...
0:26:28 > 0:26:34You see, I think that my job is to be a storyteller.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39And actors are very much part of a storytelling chain.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41There's the piece of work.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44And one side of it's the performer, and the other side of it's an audience.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47And it's...
0:26:47 > 0:26:49..I should say, there's the piece of work.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52The actor's in the middle, between the piece of work and the audience.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55And it's my job to be as efficient a storyteller as possible.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00It was a job he excelled at.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04Telling stories both big and small.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07But of course, he is rightly considered one of cinema's ultimate bad guys.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12But as we've seen, he was much, much more than that.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Besides, Alan always insisted, "I don't play villains.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20"I play very interesting people."
0:27:20 > 0:27:24A rare talent. Alan Rickman is much missed.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28Truly, madly, deeply.