CHARACTER · HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
Severus Snape
- Appears in
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
- Played by
- Alan Rickman
8 archived facts 6 topics
Severus Snape is a character in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011), played by Alan Rickman.
8 Interesting Facts About Severus Snape
Interesting Facts (2)
- #001
Contains a major spoiler — show
The filmmakers took considerable creative liberties with Severus Snape's memories in the Pensieve. Besides adding scenes absent from the book, such as Snape going to Godric's Hollow and weeping over Lily Potter's body, the sequence also shows moments from events Snape never witnessed in person.
- #002
Production Story (2)
- #003
Contains a major spoiler — show
(around 37m) At one point the fight between Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith) and Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) was to be replaced by a confrontation between Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Snape. J.K. Rowling scrapped the idea, insisting that the duel feature the same characters as in the novel, since she regarded it as a key moment for McGonagall.
- #004
Contains a major spoiler — show
Cutting Dobby from this film gave Neville Longbottom a somewhat bigger part. Here it is Neville, not Dobby, who supplies Harry with gillyweed for the second task, and we later learn that Barty Crouch, Jr./Professor Moody put the idea in his head. In the book, Crouch/Moody explains that he first tried giving Neville the book that mentioned gillyweed, but Harry, who was not supposed to ask for help, told only Ron and Hermione what he had to do, so Moody arranged for Dobby to overhear him and hand Harry the gillyweed just before the task. The change has an odd side effect: Neville, who is meant to be terrified of Professor Snape, would have had to steal the gillyweed from Snape's stores.
Behind the Scenes (1)
- #005
Contains a major spoiler — show
The most visible difference between this film and its two predecessors may be the costumes: incoming designer Jany Temime, the franchise's third, gave most characters entirely new wardrobes and also redesigned the Hogwarts uniforms and Quidditch robes. Temime wanted a more modern look while taking care not to make the characters seem too trendy. The only character whose outfit went untouched was Severus Snape, since Temime felt the existing billowing black robe suited him. Temime went on to design the costumes for every subsequent film as well.
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #006
Contains a major spoiler — show
Asked by Ron how he would know Hufflepuff's Cup was a Horcrux inside the bank vault, Harry says he would have recognized it. That points to one of four Riddle flashbacks written for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), the scene that introduces the object. Director David Yates left it out of the film, judging that it would make Voldemort's backstory too complicated. For viewers who haven't read the book: the flashback shows young Tom Riddle visiting Hepzibah Smith, a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, and poisoning her to get the prized cup.
Deeper Meaning (1)
- #007
Shortly after he took on the role of Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), J.K. Rowling confided in Alan Rickman a few secrets about the character that would otherwise have stayed hidden until the final book. Chief among them: for more than 7 years, Rickman was one of the very few people besides Rowling who knew that Snape had loved Lily Evans (later Potter) back when they were Hogwarts students, and that both his protection of Harry and his hostility toward him grew out of that love. Rowling explained that she told him because "he needed to understand, I think, and does completely understand and did completely understand where this bitterness towards this boy, who's living proof of [Lily's] preference for another man, came from." Whenever the films' directors asked why he played a scene or delivered a line a certain way, Rickman would simply say he knew something they didn't.
About Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and its cast (1)
- #008
Tim Roth was a leading contender for the part of Professor Severus Snape. He was initially set to play both Snape and General Thade in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes (2001), shuttling between the two productions. He eventually chose to commit fully to Planet of the Apes, feeling that the constant back-and-forth travel would be too much.