http://www.omg-facts.com/view/Facts/47674?fromTN

Didn't see anything in the movies that would show Alan Rickmans foresite of him knowing Snapes past but its been a while since I've seen the movies.

 

And you made a thread for this? Why?

 

Hasn't this been known for a long time now?

 

Interesting fact that I didn't know before now, actually.

 

New to me. Found it interesting.

 

As far as I know, this has been known for a while. Though, it could be that I just kind of always assumed as much, as Rickman was so perfectly in character throughout all of the movies. For me this is very old news. However, I am fairly certain that this has been public knowledge for at least a few months now, since the last movie was released.

 

It was. I distantly remember reading about it even before 7th book publication. Also, Alan Rickman was perfect as Snape (his age aside), but now I'm curious how Tim Roth would manage.

 

Tim Roth isn't a bad actor, by any stretch of the term, but I feel he couldn't really have brought the role to life the way Alan Rickman did. Hell, I have trouble reading some genuinely decent fanfics with a horrendously written Snape because of imagining Alan Rickman saying/doing whatever is in there.

Also, didn't JKR say that she had always imagined Alan Rickman for the role?

 

I'd say Rickman took the role and made it his.

Everything in the first three or four books would have made Roth the perfect choice, but once Rickman was cast, Snape's characterization shifted. I don't think the plot details changed; I think Rowling changed the habits of the character to be less Potter-hyper and more sardonic and calculating.

 

I think Rowling said when talking about the actors, there were two who perfectly fit the way she imagined the characters to be in the books. She specifically named Evanna Lynch as one of the two, and it's most likely that Alan Rickman was the other.

As a minor curiosity, is there any actor/actress that anyone feels would have been more suited to the role of a character than what was chosen? I only recently started to learn the names and common roles of actors, so I'm curious.

 

Gabriel Thompson from the BBC show My family.

Years ago I thought he'd be far better for the role as Harry. Seen below on the left.



He grew up looking less like how I imagine Harry than Radcliffe though. I have issues with Radcliffe being chosen mainly centered around a notion I have in my head that his parents were involved in casting or something. I heard something about that before, possibly here, but I'm not sure if it's true.

 

JKR has referred to Emma Watson, in the past, as being '...my perfect Hermione...', though I couldn't say if Emma was the other one to whom JKR was referring.

Heh, that's Madam Hooch in that pic.

 

I think Radcliffe did a good job of it, acting wise. The one thing that always bugged me was that he didn't look all that much like Harry - no black hair, green eyes, or ugly glasses. The least they could have done to make up for the eyes was dye his hair the right color. But, I suppose it's too late to worry about it now.

Michael Gambon could have done better with his role though. However, I think that if he had fully understood the life of the character that he was playing, he would have nailed it. JK could have helped him out a bit there. Dumbledore had a very complicated role (always knowing so much with hidden motives and agendas). As it was, Gambon's Dumbledore always felt a bit off to me.

 

Gambon apparently admitted somewhere that he wasn't really acting. He just played it as he felt it.

Watson was the perfect Hermione for a couple of years, then puberty hit.

Also the director must have been insanely jealous and annoyed if Rickman played things oddly and didn't have to give a reason.

 

Eh, the Hermione in the books changed with puberty too. Remember, Harry Potter was NOT a reliable narrator. He perceived so little that we are often kept in the dark about even those closest to him. By fourth year (though I could go as far back as second year), Hermione's character had changed dramatically. More and more she changed in her moral understandings of those around her and her entire society. A lot of the post-puberty sass that I saw from Watson in the movies did not seem out of character to me when it comes to Hermione. It might have seemed out of character to Harry, as the narrator of the books, but I'm not sure if he ever saw her as anything other than the rule-worshiping bookworm who thought being expelled was worse than dying.

 

And in the aftermath, her eyebrows took over. Thousands died.

 

As much as I think Rickman is a great actir, I would've preferred Tim Roth, somewhat because of his age but mostly because Rickman just chews the scenery and is such a presence that he actually diminishes everyone around him. Plus, we're supposed to hate Snape, and that's just impossible with Rickman. Roth made me hate him with a passion in the otherwise terrible Rob Roy, so I think he'd have nailed the role.

I think Lynch was pretty much a perfect Luna, Rupert Grint was almost as perfect as Ron, and aside from being a little too hot, Watson was an excellent Hermione. The casting of McGonagall was great, as was Ralph Feinnes (sp?) as Voldemort.


And I though Radcliffe was a very good Harry, if a little wooden in several places. He was great early on and at the end, but he could've been better in the middle movies. And while I was as disappointed as anyone about Harry's blue eyes instead of the famous green, I never once thought his hair wasn't dark enough. It should've been messier, yes, but it was dark enough IMO.


Shitty casting? Eh, Bonnie whatshername turned out not hot enough, but she was okay. Gambon, while a good actor, was left with shoes too large to fill after Harris's death. Richard Harris would've been kick-ass as the OotP Dumbledore as well as in HBP. I thought Lupin was miscast and while the woman playing Tonks (can't recall her name right now) was certainly hot enough, her look was just ruined when she appeared in HBP.


I also thought the man playing Arthur was perfect, but Bill and Fleur were nowhere NEAR good-looking enough for their canon descriptions.

 

I never noticed Radcliffe's eyes were the wrong colour for years but his hair always bothered me. I basically did the ten-year-old equivalent of a WTF face when I saw that hair in PS.

 

Sometimes I feel as though I am the only person who disagrees with the way that Alan Rickman (or more likely the Writers and Director) portrayed Snape. As much as I love his acting, as much as I think he added an awful lot to the worth of the films, I fundamentally think that he was a different character. He somehow came across as a camp, misunderstood loner rather than the loathsome, bullying, vile piece of shit he was characterised as in the books.

EDIT: Apparently Portus agrees. Also, completely in agreement with everything he just said.