I like Rickman. But the way the film industry works, there is a depressing tendency for him to get type cast as comic Grand Guignol villains. As such, he is always equal to himself, (unforgettable as the Sheriff of Nottingham or the sleazy political spinmaster in BOB ROBERTS) but underused IMHO. He is capable of so many more dimensions, and is never so good as when he is cast against type.
My favorite performance by him though is as the revenant cellist in Anthony Minghella’s TRULY MADLY DEEPLY, we have a delightfully nuanced comic portrayal, seductive enough
to get called back from the dead by the grief of his distraught widow, but also sufficiently annoying, flimsy and full of ticks, as to teach her to dispense with his memory and get on with her life.
So what do you guys think, do you think there’s more to him than just a villain?
I don’t care what he does. If they made a film of him reading aloud from the phone book, I would be first in line to buy a ticket. I would then stare mesmerized at the screen with my mouth hanging slightly open…
That said, I haven’t seen everything he’s done. I believe I caught a part of Truly, Madly, Deeply long ago, but wasn’t able to watch it because it was a steaming pile of crap. (That was before my eyes were opened to Alan’s full glories.) Yet the steaming pile of crap factor didn’t keep me from watching Blow Dry. shudder
Many of my favorite Alan Rickman roles are the non-villan ones: the dead cellist in Truly, Madly, Deeply, the actor playing the Spock-like role in Galaxy Quest, and particularly Col. Brandon in Sense and Sensibility. He and Emma Thompson have such wonderful chemisty in this last film that, for once, I don’t think I would have minded much if they’d changed the ending of the story and Elinor had married the Colonel instead of Marianne.
But that doesn’t stop me from being disappointed that he wasn’t cast as the villain Denethor in Lord of the Rings. And I’d like to see him do a Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare film, as a villain. (You know, like Richard II.)
Where they really need him is in the Bond franchise. Yes as a villain, but he’d also make a fine M.
He will forever be Severus Snape to me…a conflicted villain, who wants to do what’s right, but can’t get over his hatred for Harry Potter or rather, Harry’s father.
A guy on Dead Ringers (a British skit comedy show) does a perfect Alan Rickman imitation. They did a skit with three scenes of Alan Rickman shot from exactly the same angle with exactly the same acting:
“I’ll get you, Robin Hood.”
“I’ll get you, John McClane.”
“I’ll get you, Harry Potter.”
Then the voiceover said, “Alan Rickman: Token British baddie in Hollywood films.”
I rarely found Alan Rickman anything but annoying as a villain–though I guess that was how you were supposed to feel! (Of course, the sheriff in Robin Hood was funny sometimes.) But after I saw him in Sense and Sensibility…WOW!! I was floored by his portrayal of the gentle Col. Brandon. It was the first movie I’d ever seen him in that he wasn’t playing a sarcastic jerk!
There’s a movie he was in called January Man with Kevin Kline and Mary Elizabeth Mastarantonio where he played a subdued gay guy named Ed. For some reason I thought it hysterical to see the Sherriff of Nottingham play a gay guy.
Or Iago. That would be dead perfect casting. I think, if they did that and had the right actor to play Othello, that I would actually stand in line for tickets days in advance like people did for Star Wars and what have you.
I love Alan Rickman. He’s one of those actors that make a movie or scene worth watching just by being in it. I think Galaxy Quest has to be my favorite role of his for 2 scenes: 1. The one in the beginning where he has his little freakout and 2. When he finally gets mad towards the end.
Alan Rickman kicks ass. He was one of the best things in the decidedly mediocre Love, Actually this past holiday season. And Closet Land is a pretty good movie (though extremely intense and difficult to sit through) that shows what Rickman can do with a villainous character who isn’t a Hollywood cartoon.
For the record, he began his journey to prominence by playing Valmont in the London production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses (which I’ve probably misspelled), a role that went to John Malkovich when they adapted it for the screen. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Malkovich, and I think he does fascinating things with a part in which you wouldn’t normally expect him to be cast.
But I’d give real money to see what Rickman did with it. Oh yeah baby.
And, while it’s so obvious that it’s hardly worth mentioning, his performance is a large part of why Die Hard is generally considered to be a near-perfect action movie.
Does it mean he’s not a good villian if I always end up rooting for his villian character? As for Professor Snape, although not exactly a villian, I think he’s just misunderstood and I’d like to put him in a bubble bath and give him a nice shampoo. Er … did I mention I have the flu and I may not be quite all there right now?
