Daniel Radcliffe Was 'Terrified' Of This Harry Potter Co-Star
Throughout the "Harry Potter" films, the titular young wizard Daniel Radcliffe) faces his fair share of antagonists — including Severus Snape, played by the late, great Alan Rickman. Though it's eventually revealed that Snape is a good guy who was secretly protecting Harry while risking his life to do so, Snape doesn't make life at Hogwarts easy for Harry; he constantly torments the young boy in his Potions classes and certainly seems to despise him. (Another later reveal is that Harry's resemblance to his father, who once bullied Snape, is a real sticking point for the Potions master.) And, according to Radcliffe, the young actor initially thought that Rickman hated him in real life too.
During an interview with his "Merrily We Roll Along" co-stars Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, Radcliffe admitted that everything about Rickman, from his overall demeanor to his signature deep voice, frightened the young star for at least the first three "Harry Potter" films. "I was so intimidated by Alan Rickman," Radcliffe said. "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.'"
Alan Rickman turned out to be one of Daniel Radcliffe's biggest supporters
As it turns out, Alan Rickman didn't hate Daniel Radcliffe at all ... and the two ended up becoming close friends during the remainder of Rickman's life.
Radcliffe took on a number of exciting stage projects while still working on the "Harry Potter" films, perhaps in an attempt to shed the image of the Boy Who Lived, with his most daring role coming in "Equus." From 2007 to 2009, Radcliffe starred in Peter Shaffer's troubling 1973 play (alongside Richard Griffiths, who played his evil Uncle Vernon in the "Potter" films and passed away in 2013), which had him play a mentally troubled young boy and appear fully nude onstage. (The scene in question, for what it's worth, is more frightening than anything else, and it required quite a lot of bravery from Radcliffe.) On "Happy Sad Confused," Radcliffe said that Rickman couldn't possibly have been more supportive of his stage work and that they bonded over it.
"He cut short a vacation in Canada to come and see me in Equus," Radcliffe revealed. "He saw every piece of stage work I did when he was alive. He would take me out afterwards, and we would talk about it."
When Alan Rickman died, Daniel Radcliffe penned a touching tribute to the actor
Tragically, Alan Rickman passed away from pancreatic cancer in January of 2016, leaving his "Harry Potter" co-stars — and the world at large — utterly bereft at the loss. Rickman was only 69 years old when he died, and it feels as if his career surely would have continued to thrive had he not received such a difficult diagnosis. When news broke of his death, Daniel Radcliffe immediately released a touching statement, beginning with stories about Rickman that echo his recent comments on Happy Sad Confused.
In the eulogy, which was posted to Radcliffe's now-defunct Google Plus page (via The Washington Post), the actor says that Rickman made it a point to watch all of the young actor's non-"Potter" projects, traveling to see him perform on-stage in both London and New York. Radcliffe said that those who knew Rickman for years and years knew one thing to be true: "If you call Alan, it doesn't matter where in the world he is or how busy he is with what he's doing, he'll get back to you within a day."
"People create perceptions of actors based on the parts they played, so it might surprise some people to learn that contrary to some of the sterner (or downright scary) characters he played, Alan was extremely kind, generous, self-deprecating and funny," Radcliffe continued, before saying that while the two worked on "Harry Potter" together, Rickman treated him like an equal peer and was an invaluable acting teacher. "Film sets and theater stages are all far poorer for the loss of this great actor and man," he concluded.
Alan Rickman made some predictions about Daniel Radcliffe's career once — did they come true?
Clearly, Alan Rickman respected and liked Daniel Radcliffe, but he wasn't completely sure that the young boy would grow up and become a great actor. According to excerpts from his diaries released in The Guardian, he believed Radcliffe might be better suited to a career based in another part of the industry.
"[Radcliffe]'s so concentrated now," Rickman wrote in his diary. "Serious and focused – but with a sense of fun. I still don't think he's really an actor but he will undoubtedly direct/produce." Radcliffe reacted to the comments during a 2022 appearance on Bravo's late night show "Watch What Happens Live" with Andy Cohen, telling the host he'd love to direct rather than produce. "Producing seems like all the hard parts of the industry without any of the fun," he stated, "so I don't really have an interest in doing that, but yeah, I would love to [direct]."
With all due respect to the late Rickman, he couldn't have been more wrong; Radcliffe has spent his post-"Potter" years seeking out weird, inventive, and fascinating projects on both stage and screen, pulling them off handily. From his quirky villain role in "The Lost City," to his many roles on "Miracle Workers," to the time he played Weird Al Yankovic in a truly "Weird" biopic, Radcliffe has a lot of fun as an actor, and he's constantly growing and evolving. That trend continues with his role in "Merrily We Roll Along," so it's safe to say Rickman would be quite proud of where his co-star has gone.