News of Rickman

Alan Rickman Talks about Sweney and Harry Potter in an article from filmstew.com



Of Snow, Son and Sweeney
Alongside a couple of small films that very few people in North America have seen, actor Alan Rickman is set to follow up Potter with Sweeney Todd.
Friday, September 14, 2007 at 3:15 PM
By Brent Simon


The focus of all the Sweeney Todd production stories has been of course Johnny Depp, longtime collaborator and kindred spirit to director Tim Burton. But let’s not forget supremely talented co-star Alan Rickman, forever lurking in the shadows ready to steal scenes. “I’ve had a great time on the film, and I do sing,” he relates to FilmStew by means of an e-mail interview. “It of course looks fantastic, and Mr. Burton is definitely all he’s cracked up to be.” New this week on DVD is Snow Cake, a drama about two wounded souls that reteams Rickman with his Galaxy Quest co-star Sigourney Weaver. First-time screenwriter Alexandra Pell wrote the role of Alex, a fatal car crash survivor, with Rickman in mind. But the actor says the real in-sync element of this project was working once again with Weaver. “Our previous happy time on Galaxy Quest was very much connected to the enjoyment of working together,” Rickman recalls. “So when it came to Snow Cake, we already had a kind of shorthand.” And despite receiving rave reviews at the TriBeCa Film Festival this spring for his portrayal of a self-centered philanderer in Nobel Son, the comedy-drama co-written and directed by Randall Miller (Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School) has yet to find a North American distributor. This may be in part because of the particular sheen of the piece, one that is typically a hard sell in the U.S. “The tone is black (very black) comedy (very funny),” Rickman warns. “My character doesn’t care what people think of him and is somewhat surprised to find some metaphorical custard pies being pushed in his face.” Rickman is a co-star in Miller’s next film, the 2008 Napa Valley wine drama Bottle Shock, and in the shadow of this summer’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, it’s always easy for him to remind himself, as a member of the Council of his Alma Mater the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, whence he came from. “I certainly remember auditioning for RADA,” he says. “These days, as a Council member, I often walk across the very spot where I auditioned. All I can say is it feels like a minute ago.”