How was it for you working alongside people you looked up to in Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon?

Alan Rickman: "As a drama student and a schoolboy I was sitting up in the cheap seats watching Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon at the National Theatre, so to then find yourself working with them, them becoming friends…and of course Michael has the wickedest sense of humour and Maggie is one of the wittiest people alive, I only regret I didn’t have a tape recorder or a notebook or could do short hand, you can’t compete with those too, that was so fun." (2011)

“During a costume consultation between Alan Rickman and Judianna Makovsky, had two firm requests-the sleeves should be tight, and there should be lots of buttons
"I wanted great care taken in every aspect of the character, both psychological and practical," Rickman explains. "The cut of the hair, the length of the dress robes, the makeup." Rickman considers that his costume is an important part of the very focused life that Snape has led.

"You know that he lives a solitary kind of existence, you're not quite sure what the details of that are. He doesn't have much of a social life, and clearly, he's only got one set of clothes," he ends with a laugh. "The costume helped me to understand somebody who lives absolutely alone Whereas the different costume designers made all sorts of changes through the films to the characters, my costume stayed exactly the same for all eight films. And it helped me thinking that's the only thing hanging in his wardrobe."

Judianna Makovsky decided that while Dumbledore was very medieval, Snape would follow the Dickensian style. His severe gown is made from traditional academic fabric, ironed until it develops an unusual shine; it is actually a dark blue, which photographs black on film. Buttons run up to his neck, up his long sleeves, and even on his pants over his boots. Snape's robes showcase one very unique element. *We lengthened and split the train so that when he walks, you see these two little tongues that come out, like a snake's forked tongue," she explains. "So in a way, he literally slithers out of a room."

The costume designer Jany Temime started on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and worked all the way through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. She calls the design of Snape's outfit "a winner. He's a man who never explodes out of his clothes, so he must wear something extremely strict and precise." Rickman concurs. "He lives within very tight confines— physically as well as emotionally." He also offers a practical appreciation for his wardrobe.

"Leavesden Studios didn't have the best heating system in the world, so I was more fortunate than others with my costume, which was always pretty warm." Alan Rickman would arrive on set in full costume and makeup. "I was very aware that the kids were confronted by the Snape-ness of me," Rickman explains, "so it took a while for them to know that there was somebody else underneath it all."
(The book ‘Harry Potter : the character vault’, 2015)

Jany Temime: “I never changed Professor Snape. I used the Professor Snape costume and I remade it. I made another cape. I always kept Professor Snape [as he was], because I thought it was a great costume.

I will always remember, we were shooting in a bathroom and [Malfoy] is on the floor,” Temime continued, presumably referring to when Malfoy and Harry faced off in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. “Then, Alan runs with the cape on top of his costume. He crawls on the floor and he leans next to the shape on the ground. He did that 20 times, and 20 times the cape was exactly, precisely draped on the floor in a perfect position. I think you have to be a Shakespearean actor to do that.”
(‘HelloGiggles’, 2017)

The charity Saving Faces, of which Alan was a patron, have established a professorship in his name. The Alan Rickman Professorship of Facial Surgery.

Lindsay Duncan, Ruby Wax, Beatie Edney, Mike Newell and Miriam Margolyes supported this initiative.

All videos are from the Saving Faces channel on YouTube.

Interview about the film ‘Nobel Son’, 2007

Credit: ArtsInterviewer YouTube channel