Alan Rickman fought to change a crucial scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

‘It was confusing and diluting’

Thursday 13 October 2022 08:15 BST

Alan Rickman's iconic roles

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Alan Rickman was unhappy about Dumbledore’s death scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it has emerged.

The actor’s new book Madly, Deeply: The Diary of Alan Rickman has been published posthumously following his death aged 69 in 2016.

Rickman’s never-before-seen diaries have shed light on a number of topics, including his frank thoughts about Harry Potter.

A new excerpt published by Insider reveals that Rickman was not entirely satisfied with how Dumbledore’s death was depicted in the 2009 film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The scene in question sees Rickman’s character Snape stepping in to kill Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) when Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) is unable to follow through on the murder. Snape had previously promised Draco’s mother Narcissa (Helen McCrory) that he would protect her son.

Rickman found the scene to be “oddly lacking in drama – on the page – but that is absolute cause and effect of screenplays that have to conflate (deflate) the narrative”.

“We don’t know – or remember – enough about individual characters’ concerts to understand their issues. Or care,” he added, apparently alluding to the film having too many characters for audience members to be invested in all of them.

Rickman fought to keep one line of dialogue out of the scene.

“To wit, I argue (successfully, today) that a line of Snape’s, ‘I gave my word. I made a vow,’ was confusing and diluting,” he wrote.

An original cut of the scene seemingly included Snape explaining his reasons for killing Dumbledore by reminding the audience of his promise to Draco’s mother.