Book: Madly, Deeply: The Alan Rickman Diaries

Author: Alan Taylor

Publisher: Canongate

Price: ₹999

Alan Rickman’s voice had a distinctive bite. It was evident in his role as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, or as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter franchise. Rickman was also generous with his time and advice and championed aspiring artists without reservation. This is how Emma Thompson, a colleague and long-time friend to Rickman, remembers the iconic actor in the foreword to Madly, Deeply — a “blissfully contradictory friend” who was “profoundly nurturing and imperturbably distant”.

Madly, Deeply, edited by Alan Taylor, provides insights into the private life and thoughts of Rickman who has a dedicated fanbase among cine-goers delighted by campy baddies and psychopaths on screen. But before Rickman found global fame with Die Hard as a nattily-dressed, Plutarch-misquoting, Teutonic terrorist, Rickman cut his teeth in Britain, most notably at the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he left his mark with plays like Les Liaisons Dangereuses. This was followed by iconic roles in An Awfully Big Adventure, Sense and Sensibility, Galaxy Quest. With the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 2001, a new generation of film enthusiasts — including this reviewer — was mesmerised by the hypnotically unhurried dialogue delivery and quiet menace that Rickman brought to screen.

Rickman began his career as a graphic designer but enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art within a few years. He subsequently honed his craft in repertory theatre in places like Sheffield, Birmingham, Nottingham and Glasgow. The Alan Rickman Diaries chronicles the years between 1993 to 2015 when the actor had already cemented his place in the profession. But Rickman held himself to high standards and expected the same of others. If a script wasn’t up to the mark, he would intervene: he did so for his role as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves to make the character more dynamic.

Some may find Madly, Deeply a rather dull set of diary entries, which are neither informative nor poetic. An entry from July, 1993 simply reads — “Dinner with Richard Wilson — wonderful food at L’Accento — Something’s certain.” Another from 2002 says, “Sabrina [Guinness] plus car — 5 Cavendish Place for Mick Jagger’s dinner party.” A few well-known names recur throughout the book, such as Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Natasha Richardson, Stanley Tucci, but we learn little about these stars and even less of what Rickman thought of them. His diary entries can be considered an aide-memoire at best. There are snippets of opinion that can be gleaned with a fine tooth comb — Daniel Radcliffe isn’t much of an actor but he could very well direct or produce — but they, more often than not, come off as casual observations than serious criticism.

Rickman’s death in 2016 at the age of 69 came as a shock to all but his closest confidants. The diaries can soothe that wound. This is because the discerning reader now knows he was astute, detested award shows, and enjoyed crossword puzzles, gardening as well as burlesques. The diaries reveal the moment he learnt he had pancreatic cancer and the days that followed. His favourite shows to watch at the time were Don’t Tell the Bride and Say Yes to the Dress and he planned his own funeral to the tee.

There really isn’t much to Madly, Deeply unless you know where to look. But to a fan, the diaries may come as closure.