In a recent appearance on Josh Horowitz’s podcast, Happy Sad Confused, Daniel Radcliffe opened up about his work on the Harry Potter movies with Alan Rickman—and made a heartbreaking confession.
“I was so intimidated by Alan Rickman,” Radcliffe said, after Horowitz played an excerpt from an interview in which Rickman praised Radcliffe. “How can you not be by that voice? Even hearing that voice you forget quite how low it was until it echoes through you. I was so intimidated by him for the first three movies. I was terrified by him and was like, ‘This guy hates me.’ Somewhere along the lines he saw that I really wanted to do this and work at it.”
Rickman, who played the menacing professor Severus Snape in the films, passed away in 2016 at the age of 69. In the interview Horowitz played for Radcliffe, Rickman praised Radcliffe’s work in the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. “It’s only in recent years that I’ve managed to sit down in a cafe with Daniel in New York,” Rickman said. “He was at a theater and I was at another. Huge pride to go to see him in the musical. How dare he be dancing as well as the New York dancers! He worked at it.”
Despite Radcliffe and Rickman’s friendship, the legacy of Harry Potter has been tainted by the increasingly vicious transphobia of its creator, J.K. Rowling. Most recently, Rowling stated that she would never forgive Radcliffe and the other Harry Potter actors for supporting trans rights. Before that, Rowling denied the well-documented fact that trans people were victims of the Holocaust. Many former Harry Potter fans have ceased supporting the franchise, since Rowling uses her money from Harry Potter to support transphobic causes.
Despite that disheartening development in the Harry Potter saga, though, at least Radcliffe and Rickman made a lasting connection. It’s easy to see why Radcliffe would be intimidated by Rickman—Rickman had a gift for playing intimidating characters—but at least the two were able to enjoy each other’s friendship.
(featured image: Bruce Glikas/WireImage)
