I have every sympathy for writers. It's a mystery to me what they do. I can edit. I can cross out and say, 'I'm not saying that' or, 'How about we move this to here? Wouldn't that make that bit of the story better?' But where any of it comes from is beyond me. I will never write a play or a novel.
Alan RickmanIn theater, you've got to be aware of your whole body because it involves stamina. It involves two-and-a-half hours and a sustained release of energy, maybe for six months.
Alan RickmanIt is an ancient need to be told stories. But the story needs a great storyteller. Thanks for all of it, Jo.
Alan RickmanActing is about giving something away, handing yourself over to whatever role you are asked to play. I'm not hiding or escaping or seeking anonymity. I reserve the right not to have a rubber stamp on my forehead saying this is who I am. Because who I am gets in the way of people looking innocently at the parts I play.
Alan RickmanWhat's interesting about the process of acting is how often you don't know what you're doing.
Alan RickmanI have this feeling that if I could sort out what's on my dining room table, everything would fall into place.
Alan RickmanAny actor who judges his character is a fool - for every role you play you've got to absorb that character's motives and justifications.
Alan RickmanI do feel more myself in America. I can regress there, and they have roller-coaster parks.
Alan RickmanI have just returned from the dubbing studio where I spoke into a microphone as Severus Snape for absolutely the last time.
Alan RickmanDo you know that moment when you paint a landscape as a child and, when you're maybe under seven or something, the sky is just a blue stripe across the top of the paper? And then there's that somewhat disappointing moment when the teacher tells you that the sky actually comes down in amongst all the branches. And it's like life changes at that moment and becomes much more complicated and a little bit more boring, as it's rather tedious to fill in the branches.
Alan RickmanThe first time that I came to New York to work properly was the mid-'80s, but I was doing eight shows a week. You have no life. Going to a punk rock club - or whatever the music was at that time - would not have been on my agenda.
Alan RickmanEvery so often you read a play and a character just speaks to you - almost seems to speak through you, in fact.
Alan RickmanThe difference between being an actor and a director is simple. The director has to hide his panic; the actor doesn't.
Alan RickmanI'm still living the life where you get home and open the fridge and there's half a pot of yogurt and a half a can of flat Coca-Cola.
Alan RickmanI knew with Snape I was working as a double agent, as it turns out, and a very good one at that.
Alan RickmanYou try to find things that are challenging and interesting and hopefully it will be the same to the audience.
Alan RickmanSnow Cake is a lovely film. Really proud of that. We shot it in 21 days. I thought Sigourney was amazing in it. And very, very accurate. I think there was some element that thought she had pushed it too far. But not at all when you do the amount of homework she had done and spent the amount of time she did with adult autistics. She was right on the money. And I think Marc Evans is a terrific director. He's a sweet, open, honest man and a really good director of actors.
Alan RickmanI'm very aware that when one is acting in the theater, you do become kind of animal about it. And you're reliant on instincts rather than tact a lot of the time.
Alan RickmanI have a photograph at home of Fred Astaire from the knees down with his feet crossed. It's kind of inspiring because it reminds me his feet were bleeding at the end of rehearsals. Yet when you watch him, all you see is freedom. It's a reminder of what the job is about in general, not just being in musicals.
Alan RickmanAnd it's a human need to be told stories. The more we're governed by idiots and have no control over our destinies, the more we need to tell stories to each other about who we are, why we are, where we come from, and what might be possible.
Alan RickmanWhen I am asked about influences, I always say I bow down to Fred Astaire, because when you look at him dancing you never look at his extremities, do you? You look at his centre. What you never see is the hours of work that went into the routines, you just see the breathtaking spirit and freedom.
Alan RickmanCertainly as actors, and maybe as directors, you've got to hang on to something childlike. You've got to know what play is. I haven't worked with Mike Leigh, but I know him very well and there's something open in his eyes about what's in front of him. And the same is true of Alfonso in a Mexican, mad way. There's an enthusiastic response to something. Neil Jordan, the same, when he gets excited . You just want to know there's a human being in there.
Alan RickmanI mean, language fascinates me anyway, and different words have different energies and you can change the whole drive of a sentence.
Alan RickmanWe're dead as a species if we don't tell stories, because then we don't know who we are.
Alan RickmanI never expected to have any kind of film career, to be honest. It was all a bit of a surprise. But I was in a big hit play on Broadway. America, as many people will say, says yes more often than we do. And so I was suddenly surrounded by people saying yes. But I was aware that was 'cause of what I was in. It had a big impact.
Alan RickmanYou know, London is so sprawling, and you can sometimes forget that anybody else is on a stage anywhere else.
Alan Rickman