NY Times interviews Alan Rickman; discusses his unique voice and “Potter”

The New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend sat down with actor Alan Rickman to discuss acting and his distinctly famous voice, along with his thoughts on Harry Potter and his Broadway show Seminar.

On Alan’s now famous voicing style, he shared how it had been a problem for him in drama school:

“They said I had a very lazy diction, that I had a spastic soft palate…my voice teacher said, ‘You sound as if your voice is coming out of the back end of a drainpipe.’ So that’s how cruel drama school is. It means, I suppose, basically, that I had to learn to bring it all forward. It was kind of traveling backward.”

In speaking about Harry Potter:

“With the last film, it was very cathartic, because you were finally able to see who he was. It was strange, in a way, to play stuff that was so emotional…but satisfying on all sorts of levels. You know, Ray [Fiennes – who played Voldemort] and I had a scene where you just thought, well, finally it’s just a couple of actors talking to each other, with no special effects.”

And on holding a wand:

“Holding a wand is not the most threatening thing. And pointing it at Dame Maggie Smith, who you’ve grown up worshipping from the cheap seats at the National Theatre, and she’s pointing it at you…and she can arch an eyebrow like nobody. Thank God for the sheets of flame.”

You can read the rest of the interview right here.