Alan Rickman

I have recently been thinking about Alan Rickman, and I may have to watch some more of his movies, because I’ve only seen the bigger and more recent ones, I’m sure.

I wanted to have a movie going while I was doing some other things yesterday, so I went to Netflix to find something to stream. I ended up with a 2001 British movie called Blow Dry. It’s about a hair styling competition in a small town in England. I chose it because of Alan Rickman’s name. I knew so many of the actors in it that I was surprised I hadn’t heard of it before. Alan Rickman of course, Natasha Richardson, Josh Hartnett, Bill Nighy, Rachel Leigh Cook, Rachel Griffiths, and Heidi Klum making a model appearance. This movie wasn’t some artistic wonder (but I’m a firm believer that there is a place for those kind of movies, too!), but I enjoyed it.

But I started thinking more about Alan. He has that distinctive voice, which probably keeps him from becoming more of a leading man, but I like him so much the way he is. Of course he’s a wonderful bad guy. He was such a pitiful, sniveling sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and he is the perfect Severus Snape. Perfect, I say! He’s been in things I saw and enjoyed but don’t think much about, too—Die Hard, Galaxy Quest. He was a smooth bad guy in Quigley Down Under; it’s just hard to not watch Mr. Man Tom Selleck in that one.

Oh, and Love, Actually. I’d really like to re-watch that one. I really enjoy seeing him as a regular person, not just the bad guy. That’s what was good about his role in Blow Dry.

Now I’m really looking forward to the remaining Harry Potter movies! Snape’s role becomes so much more important and complicated in these.

For some interesting tidbits, he comes from a “normal” working-class family, and he was accomplished at calligraphy as a child. Also, when I googled him, I learned that his full name is Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman, which makes me like him even more.