Harry Potter star Tom Felton recalls Alan Rickman’s terse words after he repeatedly stepped on his cloak
Felton explained that the cloak was attached to Rickman’s neck, so he was strangled every time someone stepped on it
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Your support makes all the difference.Tom Felton remembered provoking the famous ire of Alan Rickman on the set of the Harry Potter movies.
The Draco Malfoy actor gave the anecdote in a new promotional video posted on social media ahead of the release of his upcoming memoir, Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard.
“Eventually, I was told in no uncertain terms by Alan Rickman: ‘Don’t step on my f***ing cloak’,” Felton recalled of the late actor who played Professor Severus Snape across the film saga.
“[I] sort of giggled, death eaters and I looked at each other and thought, ‘Is he joking?’ It quickly became apparent: he’s totally not joking.
“Next take, the director was very keen for me to walk as close as I can to Alan. We got about halfway through the Great Hall before [mimes stepping on Rickman’s cloak]. You have to bear in mind his cloak’s attached around his neck – I nearly killed the poor man!”
Felton said after stepping on his cloak after being warned, Rickman “turned around and gave me a look you never, ever want to see”.
Luckily for him, another unnamed actor then stood on his cloak on the next take, “so that kind of took the heat away from me,” Felton said, before concluding, “But I’ll never forget those words: ‘Don’t step on my f***ing cloak’.”
Rickman died of cancer in 2016, at the age of 69.
In a previous interview, Felton said it was “terrifying” working with the Die Hard star, but that he had a “wicked sense of humour”.
Felton was not the only actor in the Harry Potter movies to face Rickman’s wrath for their clumsiness.
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In his newly-released diaries, published by Canongate Books on Tuesday (4 October), Rickman recalled working with Igor Karkaroff star Predrag Bjelac.
“Last scene with Pedja [actor Predrag Bjelac] who I rudely described as [like] working with a sideboard on wheels,” Rickman wrote in 2004. “Nothing to do with him as a (complex, delightful) person but more to do with the way he manages to bang into you at any opportunity.”
Elsewhere in the diaries, Rickman revealed his attempts to quit the fantasy franchise.
Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard (Grand Central Publishing) is out 18 October.
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