Alan Rickman as Severus Snape v3

[vampiricduck]

That's the thing, isn't it? He's possibly more of an enigma than even Dumbledore was. That closed in sense of foreboding, the locked in thoughts and feelings, and the fact that he maintained it for so many years... Rickman plays it all out, and it's a wonderfully appreciated effort. When my Mom first heard it was him playing Snape, she said "I see it!", and she was completely right. Nobody else could bring justice to the role.

Even taking into account that Alan Rickman knew his characters fate and eventuality, he did a great job with the intensity of acting required for the role. He's the character you love to hate, but that you also pity him, and wish he would win a reprieve, especially toward the end. I can see his final scenes being understated, cruel and still masterful, because that's the way Rickman plays his parts. He's the kind of actor that makes it look so simple, even though Snape is a tough character to play.

I love the way that it seems he's simply talking, but if you take a long look at him, there's so much going on inside his head that it's just awesome.

[Wicked]

Originally Posted by Annielogic

Alan Rickman is able to put so much into so little. Even if it's just a facial expression or body movement. Like when Umbridge in the Great Hall giggled, Snape eyes widen and the way he slowly looked around at her, was great.

I agree! He is so good at the small details. Like when he runs into Harry in the hall with the Marauder's Map in PoA. Harry asks him not to point his want at him. The way Rickman flicks his wrist back and the look on his face was priceless! It was like, "Are you happy now, Potter?". He is soooooo good.

And in CoS when he confronts the Trio and asks why they aren't outside. Just watch the expressions on his face. Its laugh out loud funny. Great acting.

I think he loves wearing that wig. I love the way he makes those quick turns and flips his hair about. Its so funny.

He is perfect for Snape.

[Rush]

I re-watched PoA a few days ago and I realized how great Alan Rickman is as Snape. I thought he was terrific while he was teaching the DADA class (turn to page three hundred and ninety-four). I just love the way he talks and acts. To me Alan Rickman does the best acting out of anyone in the movies. He IS Severus Snape.

[wickedwickedboy]

The problem with this actor for me is that the movies I've seen with him in them, he always acts like Severus Snape.

[eliza101]

Originally Posted by wickedwickedboy

The problem with this actor for me is that the movies I've seen with him in them, he always acts like Severus Snape.

Have you seen 'Truly, Madly, Deeply.'?

[BublGumPnkHar]

Originally Posted by wickedwickedboy

The problem with this actor for me is that the movies I've seen with him in them, he always acts like Severus Snape.

But if you're looking for an actor who has done this kind of character very successfully, wouldn't you hire Alan? The only places he differs from the book is his age and physique, Snivellus is thinner - well, at least not as well built as Alan (from my impressions in the book - but that could be just me). Alan has him nailed down, too bad he doesn't have a few more scenes, so we can see how he really treats Harry in Potions class. That would be classic.

[boushh]

Originally Posted by wickedwickedboy

The problem with this actor for me is that the movies I've seen with him in them, he always acts like Severus Snape.

Really? I disagree. He's one of the few actors around where I usually don't see his other roles reflected in his performances. He has a distinctive voice, that's for sure, so I can see the voice reminding people of Snape if they haven't seen him in much else prior to HP.

[Bscorp]

Originally Posted by wickedwickedboy

The problem with this actor for me is that the movies I've seen with him in them, he always acts like Severus Snape.

Forgive me, but I think you might be projecting a bit. I can see some of this in Sweeney Todd, I admit he did some very Snape-like turns in that movie but that Snape-filter was cast to by the proximity of it's release to OOP, imo.

I only say that almost anyone I talk to outside of my small realm of friends can never recognize Rickman in anything else.

Let me recount a coversation I've had in the past at a party,

I say I'm a fan of Alan Rickman and the guy says, "who?"

"Snape, in the Harry Potter movies?"

"Oh yeah, Ok what else is he in?"

Sense and Sensibility-

"What was he in that?"

Col Brandon- He wanted to woo Kate Winslet-

"Oh- .... *blank* yeah- The older guy?"

Love Actually-

"I don't remember him in that- "

You know, the guy in the glasses- who cheated on Emma Thompson

"mmmm?"

How about The Voice of God in Dogma?

"OH yeah- right. He had dark hair- and..."

Wings

"Yeah- wings. That was funny."

Then there Robin Hood as The Sheriff... and Die Hard...

"Wait- wait- THAT was all SNAPE?"

I won't even get into the characters of Alex from Snow Cake who is about the most patient, open minded and yearningly good of a guy as you can get.

And I won't get into Rickman's much lauded performance in this years Bottle Shock as the "down and out" wine expert who brings American wines into the international Spotlight.

But there's the Irish Revolutionary Eamon de Valera , or the sloppy tragic yet oddly seductive drunk Rasputin ( for which he won and Emmy) , the HILARIOUS Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest....

If you put all these characters in a room - you would see none of them as similar or having anything in common with Severus Snape, and very few would look anything like Alan Rickman.

I will celebrate this repetoire with a video– the soundtrack is an actual song written by a pop/punk rock artist in the 90s. "Not Alan Rickman" A remastered version of this song is available on an album called 'Leonardism' available from the Real Wood Records MySpace site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oly_Up4y9oE

[underscore]

What's really cool is that he's playing the caterpillar in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

[boushh]

Bscorp, I'll have you know that the Not Alan Rickman song is stuck in my head now.

[fullmetalkitty]

Originally Posted by underscore

What's really cool is that he's playing the caterpillar in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Seriously? I'm sure his acting in that will be great but the costume will probably look stupid

[underscore]

Originally Posted by fullmetalkitty

Seriously? I'm sure his acting in that will be great but the costume will probably look stupid

No the character looks amazing. They're cgi character being voiced by the actors but they're also going to do motion capture acting to mke the cgi characters' expressions more realistic.

[eliza101]

Originally Posted by Bscorp

Forgive me, but I think you might be projecting a bit. I can see some of this in Sweeney Todd, I admit he did some very Snape-like turns in that movie but that Snape-filter was cast to by the proximity of it's release to OOP, imo.

I only say that almost anyone I talk to outside of my small realm of friends can never recognize Rickman in anything else.

Let me recount a coversation I've had in the past at a party,

I say I'm a fan of Alan Rickman and the guy says, "who?"

"Snape, in the Harry Potter movies?"

"Oh yeah, Ok what else is he in?"

Sense and Sensibility-

"What was he in that?"

Col Brandon- He wanted to woo Kate Winslet-

"Oh- .... *blank* yeah- The older guy?"

Love Actually-

"I don't remember him in that- "

You know, the guy in the glasses- who cheated on Emma Thompson

"mmmm?"

How about The Voice of God in Dogma?

"OH yeah- right. He had dark hair- and..."

Wings

"Yeah- wings. That was funny."

Then there Robin Hood as The Sheriff... and Die Hard...

"Wait- wait- THAT was all SNAPE?"

I won't even get into the characters of Alex from Snow Cake who is about the most patient, open minded and yearningly good of a guy as you can get.

And I won't get into Rickman's much lauded performance in this years Bottle Shock as the "down and out" wine expert who brings American wines into the international Spotlight.

But there's the Irish Revolutionary Eamon de Valera , or the sloppy tragic yet oddly seductive drunk Rasputin ( for which he won and Emmy) , the HILARIOUS Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest....

If you put all these characters in a room - you would see none of them as similar or having anything in common with Severus Snape, and very few would look anything like Alan Rickman.

I will celebrate this repetoire with a video– the soundtrack is an actual song written by a pop/punk rock artist in the 90s. "Not Alan Rickman" A remastered version of this song is available on an album called 'Leonardism' available from the Real Wood Records MySpace site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oly_Up4y9oE

And he was Juliet Stevenson's ghost lover in 'Truly, Madly. Deeply'

[Pearl_Took]

And he was in Galaxy Quest!

Nobody has yet mentioned Galaxy Quest!

I love Galaxy Quest!

'By Grabthar's hammer' ...

I adore Truly, Madly, Deeply too.


In short, I have admired and loved Alan's work for nearly 20 years. When I heard he was going to play Snape, I said to myself: "PERFECT!"

But his other roles are also very diverse.

[wickedwickedboy]

No, I have not seen many of those movies. Actually only two that I recognized the character in and his persona was like that he played in the HP movies. That is why I stated "for me" - because I have seen so little of him. Like the other characters, Rickman was too old looking for the role. But again, I don't recall if they changed the timetable for the movies. Perhaps all of these people are supposed to be older than their ages in the books. I mean, you could try to put it down to all of them having extremely hard lives, but then they made a huge error with making the Potters look old also. This because everyone went from looking 15 to 40 in a span of 6 years. So maybe that span has been enlarged for the films. I feel all of the actors, including Rick, do an outstanding job - but the issue is integrity, not ability.

Could I see someone else - a younger man - in the roll? Of course. Johnny Depp would have made an outstanding Severus Snape. Further, he could ugly up a whole lot better because it would have to be contrived via make up and Johnny has no shame.

[Pearl_Took]

Originally Posted by wickedwickedboy

Could I see someone else - a younger man - in the roll? Of course. Johnny Depp would have made an outstanding Severus Snape. Further, he could ugly up a whole lot better because it would have to be contrived via make up and Johnny has no shame.

Interesting. I've seen Johnny suggested for Sirius, and after my initial I thought, yup, actually, he would make a perfectly brilliant Sirius. He would be a far darker Sirius than Gary's portrayal (I like Gary as Sirius, btw) but that, of course, is closer to canon.

Johnny as Severus? -- hmm, dunno. Maybe. Tim Roth was a serious suggestion at one point, I believe. That would have been a verrrry interesting casting choice.

Of course Johnny is much closer in age to the canon characters.

But to keep this on-topic -- -- let me say how again how much I love Alan as Severus.

[boushh]

I love him as Snape. I do wish he was younger, but all of the adults playing characters in that age group vary wildly in age and all of them are older than they are supposed to be, so it balances things out. I don't think I'd choose anyone else to play him. He has nuanced performances and does so much with such little material...

[snapes_witch]

Originally Posted by wickedwickedboy

Could I see someone else - a younger man - in the roll? Of course. Johnny Depp would have made an outstanding Severus Snape. Further, he could ugly up a whole lot better because it would have to be contrived via make up and Johnny has no shame.

Johnny Depp? Good Lord NO! Besides which he's an American.

I don't care too much about the wrong ages of the actors; AFAIK of the adults Dame Maggie is the only one whose actually the right age. Frankly I'm upset about the Dumbledore actors not being 116 yrs. old.

AR is excellent as Snape. The only problem is they've cut his part so much that Snape's importance to the story has been minimized.

Unfortunately AR has been typecast as a villian ever since his first movie, when he's only been one in a few movies. Judge Turpin was his first bad guy in a very long time. (Both Alan and I don't consider Sev a bad guy!)

[SiriuslyHP]

Alan Rickman is totally made to play Snape. The way he portrays the charcter is exactly the way it's done in the book which, IMO, is exactly the way it should be portrayed !

I
LOVE
ALAN
RICKMAN !

Need I say more?

Originally Posted by wickedwickedboy

Could I see someone else - a younger man - in the roll? Of course. Johnny Depp would have made an outstanding Severus Snape. Further, he could ugly up a whole lot better because it would have to be contrived via make up and Johnny has no shame.

Err? Sorry but no way ! Depp is great and has played some amazing roles but I really cannot imagine him as Snape.

[TerrierMom]

I can't see Johnny Depp as Snape at all. A younger Dumbledore, yes. But not Snape.