u/Unusual-Ad1999

one of my favorite things about Alan Rickman’s diaries is how he’d sometimes be writing about some frustrating moment on set, and then suddenly slip in a little pun.

Like this entry from November 16, 2009:

"An empty sound stage with David Yates, Ralph and me. David is the most impenetrable mix of sweet-natured and immovable. He prefers, really, to just tell you what the story is, who you are playing, what you are thinking and where you stand, move, sit, look. Ralph and I (in a boathouse) put our oars in and I see David making a huge effort to let us have our heads. We start to get somewhere oxygenated."

He even put "(in a boathouse)" in parentheses. I lost it.

And for anyone who didn’t know this little behind-the-scenes detail >!David Yates originally wanted Snape to be killed with Avada Kedavra instead of by Nagini. Alan had actually read the books and pushed back because Snape wouldn’t have been able to pass his memories to Harry afterward. He stood his ground against the change, and the film ultimately kept the version we know today.!<

so I just found out that Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, and Helen McCrory apparently could NOT keep it together filming that Spinner's End scene in the Half-Blood Prince over the line "take out your wand," of all things.

from Alan's diary, March 2008:

"The line 'take out your wand' reduces Helena Bonham Carter to helpless mirth and will be a bit of a Waterloo come Thursday . . . Helen McCrory says she's terrified but fits like a glove with the mayhem."

and then years later, in 2015, during a joint interview with Helen McCrory:

"We properly met on the set of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in full costume. Helen with that white stripe in her hair, me with those black buttons and black contacts. Helena was there too. We had a scene with the three of us, nose to nose, having to look threateningly at each other. Helen has a huge sense of the ridiculous and with all that costume and make-up, there wasn't a hope: we were all trying to behave like grown-ups but laughing to an annoying degree; the producers and crew got a little impatient. It's run like an army camp there, so I was grateful for those moments of laughter."

need the bloopers immediately

Source:The Independent

edit: fellow alan fans, speaking of things we need immediately, we also hope his archival theatre performances can be released for public viewing. there’s a petition for it and we’re only about 30 signatures away from the 500 goal. let's help out. https://www.change.org/p/release-alan-rickman-s-archival-theatre-performances-for-public-viewing

edit 2: we just crossed 500 signatures, thank you everyone! let's see if we can hit 1,000 together!