Random Delightful Stories About Alan Rickman From Other Actors And Crew On Set (12 items)

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  (#8) While Directing Kate Winslet, He Changed An Entire Scene At Her Request

  Rickman was also a director; his film credits include the Emma Thompson-led ensemble drama The Winter Guest and A Little Chaos starring Kate Winslet. Winslet revealed that during the filming of the latter, Rickman listened to her as an actor and was willing to change an entire scene because it didn't make sense to her.

  Winslet's character was supposed to destroy her garden as an act of self-loathing, a move the actress questioned. Rickman told the Los Angeles Times, "I sat in a chair and found a little corner. I thought, 'She is right to ask the question.'"

  According to Winslet, "He changed it all. He changed the set to accommodate the idea. He was amazing like that."
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  (#6) He Pranked Daniel Radcliffe On The Set Of 'Harry Potter'

  On the set of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Rickman joined forces with costar Michael Gambon and director Alfonso Cuarón to prank Daniel Radcliffe. In the scene where Harry Potter spends the night in the Great Hall, Rickman, Gambon, and Cuarón hid a gas machine in Radcliffe's sleeping bag. They operated it with a remote control and set it off at the most inopportune moments.

  Both Radcliffe and Cuarón recall the episode with fondness. Radcliffe said in a Reddit AMA: "I immediately thought: 'This is one of the other kids [messing] around, and we were going to get in trouble.' But as it turns out, it was one of the members of Britain's acting royalty."
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  (#1) He Protested When The Crew Of 'Rasputin' Didn't Get A Decent Lunch

  Rickman won a Golden Globe for his performance in the 1996 telefilm Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny. During filming, Rickman was anything but a dark servant. As costar Ian McKellan, who played Tsar Nicholas II, remembered in a Facebook post, "He discovered that the local Russian crew was getting an even worse lunch than the rest of us. So he successfully protested."

  Rickman also stood up for McKellan, who was reportedly being picked on by the director during filming. As McKellan recalled:

  On my first day before the camera, he didn't like the patronizing, bullying tone of a note which the director gave me. Alan, seeing I was a little crestfallen, delivered a quiet, concise resume of my career and loudly demanded that the director up his game.
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  (#4) When A Child With Cancer Visited The 'Harry Potter' Set, Rickman Got Him A Role

  Paula DuPré Pesmen produced the first three Harry Potter movies. She remembered how Rickman not only welcomed a child with advanced cancer to the set of Prisoner of Azkaban, but also made sure the boy had a small part in the movie.

  Of the experience with Rickman, DuPré Pesman told the Huffington Post: 

  Alan [kind] of went into his Snape-mode in costume, and said, 'Why isn’t this child in the film?' Everyone had a good laugh, and Alan took him by the hand and put him into the crowd of kids as they were panning across. The back of him is actually in a shot.
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  (#5) He Treasured A Caricature Rupert Grint Drew Of Him During The Filming Of 'Harry Potter'

  Rupert Grint, who portrayed Ron in the Harry Potter films, recounted how he drew an "unpretty" caricature of Rickman while on-set one day. Little did Grint know that Rickman was behind him during the doodling. Grint said in a behind-the-scenes video, "I was so scared. [The sketch] exaggerated a few of his features."

  Rickman, on the other hand, was delighted with the drawing and said, "I made him sign it, and I have it in my possession. I'm very fond of it."
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  (#2) He Used His 'Harry Potter' Paychecks To Treat Friends And Colleagues To Dinner

  Rickman became known among his friends and colleagues for frequently treating those around him to dinner, whether on set or off. Kate Winslet wrote about an anecdote she heard at his memorial service for Entertainment Weekly: 

  At Al's memorial, Juliet Stevenson told the story of how whenever Al would go out to supper, and anyone else would try and pay, he would somehow have phoned ahead or slipped his credit card ahead of the meal, so no one even got a look at the check. He'd just say, "I’ve got two words for you: Harry Potter." And he became known for doing that.

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