Harry Potter Actors: RIP Alan Rickman, the Snape we all loved
CHICHESTER, ENGLAND – JULY 29: (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Qatar Goodwood Festival)
We don’t need to wait any special day to mourn Alan Rickman, we can do that any day. And lately, I’ve found myself missing our Snape more than usual.
Who knows why? Is it the eclipse, making me emotional? Is my inner werewolf coming out?
The point is, I miss Alan Rickman. Every day, of every month since he died last January at 69 due to pancreatic cancer. Despite the fact that it seemed like Snape was written for the actor, it must have been a difficult role. So many unanswered questions, like the rest of us, but he had to play the character like he knew.
When I think about the character Snape, I think of the humor that Rickman brought to the role. He was amazing at small subtleties (or not-so-subtle) that would make you burst out laughing. You can’t not love his portrayal of Snape.
Alan Rickman as Severus Snape in Harry Potter. Image courtesy of Warner Brothers
And if, by chance, you’re not a Snape fan, which is fine, doesn’t that just go to show how much work he did? JK Rowling did the writing, but it takes an amazing actor to be a good man like Alan Rickman, and play a controversial character in the scenes.
Perhaps the worst part about his death is that Rickman was never honored with an Oscar. Unfortunately, Harry Potter films, as well as fandom films like it often never make it to the stage. But he won a bigger award. He won the hearts of all the Harry Potter fans, both movie and book. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything bad said about his portrayal of Snape.
It was always spot on, and always perfect — exactly the character written by JK Rowling. As many people know, he didn’t know Snape’s intentions when he began. He was only given one line of information (unknown, I believe), to him. It was enough to make him question that Snape was evil, but not enough to change the character.