Alan Rickman fought to remove a pivotal line in 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,' calling it 'confusing and diluting'
- "Harry Potter" star Alan Rickman hated a key line in the finale of "Half-Blood Prince."
- The actor argued with producers against the dialogue because it was "confusing and diluting."
Alan Rickman had a truly impressive career before his untimely death from pancreatic cancer in 2016, although he's best known for playing Professor Severus Snape in all eight "Harry Potter" movies alongside Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint.
But a series of extracts from his recently published diaries, "Madly, Deeply: The Diary of Alan Rickman," show that the actor had plenty to say about his time working on the Wizarding World franchise. He criticized Emma Watson's performance, as well as describing some of the older cast as "glorified extras."
Rickman also locked horns with the producers about some of Snape's lines, especially in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."
In 2008, the actor was filming the death of Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), and he had choice words about the climactic scene because of how it was written.
"The scene seems oddly lacking in drama – on the page – but that is absolute cause and effect of screenplays that have to conflate (deflate) the narrative," he wrote.
Rickman added that he thought the problem was that the script doesn't make the audience care about specific characters and their motivations.
He wrote: "We don't know – or remember – enough about individual characters' concerns to understand their issues. Or care."
Another of Rickman's entries is him explaining how "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling had told him the truth about Snape's storyline years beforehand, so the actor knew how Snape was a spy for Dumbledore and had been in love with Lily Potter the entire time.
But in Rickman's 2008 entries about the "Half-Blood Prince" finale, he said that he fought to remove one of Snape's lines because it didn't make sense and ruined the flow of the scene.
"To wit, I argue (successfully, today) that a line of Snape's, 'I gave my word. I made a vow,' was confusing and diluting," he wrote.
The vow Rickman refers to is Snape promising Draco Malfoy's (Tom Felton) mother that he'd watch over the Slytherin student as he attempts to assassinate Dumbledore for Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). But when Draco falters, Snape steps in to finish the job.
Rickman's argument clearly paid off, because Snape stays deathly quiet in the theatrical version of the death scene.
The heartbreaking finale features Snape seemingly arrive as backup for Harry, before silently stepping in to kill Dumbledore when Draco freezes up.
The only thing Rickman actually says is "Avada Kedavra," and it isn't until "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two" that he redeems himself to Harry and the audience.
"Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman" is available now.