Alan Rickman never disappeared into a role. But thats what made him great.
If the best character actors disappear into a role — submerging what is most recognizable about themselves beneath wigs, makeup, accents or other, less tangible attributes of personality — then Alan Rickman was terrible at his job.
Needless to say, that is not the case. Rickman will probably be remembered as one of the greatest and most versatile actors of his time, whether playing the caustic yet ultimately noble Severus Snape in the "Harry Potter" films; the villainous criminal mastermind Hans Gruber in "Die Hard"; a lovesick ghost in "Truly, Madly, Deeply"; or the embittered Shakespearean actor typecast as a Spock-like TV alien in "Galaxy Quest."
Yet the actor, who died Thursday at 69, was always, inescapably himself.
Unlike, say, a Paul Giamatti — who shifts, chameleon-like, even when playing such similarly Macchiavellian characters as Eugene Landy in "Love and Mercy" and Jerry Heller in "Straight Outta Compton" — Rickman brought, to every part he played, an unwavering Rickman-ness.
Advertisement
If his peers hid behind masks, Rickman threw his away and stepped into the spotlight, bringing to the foreground what became, on stage and on screen, his signature, if eccentric, strengths: simmering British restraint bordering on superciliousness; fierce, occasionally malevolent intelligence; and a feline wit that could be both biting and playful.
Think of his King Louis XIV in the costume drama "A Little Chaos," one of Rickman's last film roles, in which he played the French "Sun King" as all too willing to masquerade as the palace gardener. Now compare that performance to Rickman's 1988 breakout role in the action thriller "Die Hard," a role that, for many, redefined the modern movie villain as a calculatingly pathological control freak.
You’ll see the same controlled, cold delivery, between almost clenched teeth; the same squinting scrutiny of other characters’ weaknesses, as if from above; and the same cagey and vaguely unctuous ability to charm the pants off of anyone, all the while suggesting that he could also do far worse, if provoked.
Those qualities are there, most unambiguously, in his bad guys, including the Sheriff of Nottingham in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," in addition to Gruber and the more morally ambiguous Snape. But you can also find them in the comedic jobs he took, which include "King of the Hill" (in which he played a Renaissance fair performer who takes his job a bit too seriously); "Bottle Shock" (in which he played a snooty wine merchant); "Love Actually" (in which he played a not entirely unsympathetic philandering husband); and the aforementioned "Galaxy Quest."
Advertisement
In that film, Rickman played Sir Alexander Dane, a classically trained actor who has been unhappily stuck in the role of extraterrestrial science officer “Dr. Lazarus” on a long-running TV space opera — a not-so-thinly veiled reference to “Star Trek’s” Leonard Nimoy. Even beneath the heavy facial prosthetics and the silly catchphrase that his character is forced to repeat, ad nauseam — “By Grabthar’s hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged!” — Rickman is still recognizably Rickman. It’s genius casting, commenting on Rickman’s typecasting as an arrogant curmudgeon.
Behind the look on his face — as if he'd just tasted something sour — the real Alan Rickman was, as ever, hiding in plain sight. But it is his voice that was perhaps the most inimitable thing about him, capable of conveying self-importance and sly, self-puncturing deprecation. He always sounded like he was just that much smarter than everyone else, and he probably was.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLmqssSsq7KklWTAtcXLnmaapJGjerO1wqSkmqZdo7K3sdFmm6KrkaW9pq3RnptmoZ6pvG6tjKumpZ1dl8K1edOhmK2rXay1osCMppidnV2dtq55xqucmqxfZ31ygo5paGhpZGSzpoGVnmdwcF2XrqeBjGponm1dl4N5foxtmZtslJmBcX%2FCcJuYq6Skv7p6x62kpQ%3D%3D