On the occasion of the special “Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts”, Daniel Radcliffe revealed that Alan Rickman, who camped Snape, was the only one to know the end of the saga …
Salto put the Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts special online last Saturday, which saw the stars of the cult fantasy saga come together to take a look behind the scenes and highlight moments from the feature films. Daniel Radcliffe took the opportunity to share an anecdote that gave a new dimension to the interpretation of Alan Rickman.
According to the actor, the interpreter of Severus Snape was the only one to know the outcome of the saga. Indeed, at the time of the shooting of the first films, all the Harry Potter books had not yet been published. Each actor had to play his character without really knowing what to expect in the sequel. All except one …
A well kept secret
“Only Rickman knew, ”Daniel Radcliffe explained to Gary Oldman, who was camping Sirius Black. “He told Jo very early on [ndlr. J.K. Rowling] : ‘I think I need to know what’s going to happen’. And he never revealed anything. Chris [ndlr. Columbus] would go to see him and ask him: ‘Why are you playing like that?’ and he would say, ‘I’ll tell you later.’”
A “later” which will arrive at the time of the publication of the 7th volume of the adventures of Harry Potter, which allowed fans to learn the truth about this often hated character. JK Rowling’s confidences therefore offered Alan Rickman the chance to play Severus Snape with accuracy and subtlety, and thus understand what animated this complex character.
In 2011, the actor revealed in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that he knew from the start that Snape was “a double agent … and a very good one on top of that”, And that, while the author had written only 4 volumes at the time of the first film.
In 2016, she had also explained on Twitter that she had revealed Snape’s secret to Alan Rickman so that he could better understand all the nuances of his character.
Find Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts now on Salto.