Alan RickmanRezensionen

Wow, what an odd read. I've mainly only read memoirs or biographies for celebrities/public figures and Rickman's journals are so unlike any I've come across. His entries are short and often vague, overall adding more mystery to him as a person. But there are also plenty of entries that, while brief, give an intimate insight into his feelings at the time - whether about politics, projects he's working on, or people he's interacting with. It made me feel both close to and distant from him, if that makes sense.

There is significantly less detail about the films he worked on than I expected. Oftentimes there were just a few sentences about a whole film. Harry Potter obviously had the most page-time, given there were 7 movies or whatever. I did get the sense he was somewhat sick of them by the time the franchise wrapped, but aside from his affection for Daniel, not much else.

It was also strange to read someone's journals published after their death. I trust the estate wouldn't have published them if they felt Alan really didn't want them shared, but there's no way to know for sure. His wife's afterward regarding his final days left me both feeling joyful and sad.

Just a strange experience overall, but since I've been a big fan of his work for quite some time, it was well worth reading. If you're not a fan of his, I'm not quite sure what you'll gain from this, as it's nothing like a straightforward memoir.

I spent 2 months with his more than two decades of diaries. I started it because I read he had intended them to be published but then the foreword said we didn't know that, so it quickly turned to a very uneasy feeling, especially at times of very honest opinions about people.

There is a sh*tton of names in it, a large number of identities explained in brackets or in endnotes. Not Ruby Wax, though, I wonder if she got an explanation in the Hungarian version (I know her through her books only, probably most people here don't know her at all). It was interesting to see him being friends with the likes of Ruby Wax, Ian McKellen, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Emma Thompson, and so on, being curious and sharing a sometimes strong opinion about other world-famous colleagues, being star-struck by still others.

The entries are very short, packed with times (as in the exact hour, not the date, I know they are diaries), names, and places. It was a tad challenging to process this amount of information on every page. He describes a lot of travelling, working on projects, going to events, the theatre, cinema, restaurants, some books he read. I really liked to see his thoughts about films and stars I am familar with and even the ones I am not. Added some films to my to-be-watched list. I loved his thoughts about everything else, life, experiences, pigeons (yes, we agree), it was worth the digging. Very British, judgy, passionate, self-reflective, with a couple of simple sentences that just radiate his love for Rima (lifelong partner and for the last couple of years, wife - by the way, I would have loved to know why they had decided to marry after all those years).

The last year was heart-wrenching, knowing how little he had had to live, something he had been completely unaware of. The entries got shorter and shorter, and then just stopped, and there was Rima, describing the last month of his life. It was interesting to see how different funerals in the UK are from what we are used to in this corner of the world. More of a celebration of the life than feeling sorry for ourselves that we lost the person. His chosen music was Uptown Funk and Take It With Me by Tom Waits ("Four great words - I MET TOM WAITS." 29 October, 2005).

At the end we get a few excerpts from earlier diaries, which seemed odd, because we had just shared a journey through 20 years, to jump back to pre-1993. They were longer texts, not similar to the ones encountered so far, but a joy to read anyway. He is greatly missed.

Too many

Listening to diary entries did not keep my attention. Stopped less than 10% in.

These diaries proved to be marginally worth the considerable investment of time necessary to plow through them. The beloved actor can be pretty interesting when he's discussing his approach to acting a role or directing a play, and his comments on others' acting and directing, or reviews of movies and plays are quite interesting. The book also contains quite a bit of tittle-tattle about his jetsetting and meetings with people you probably haven't heard about to discuss technical problems or contract minutiae, and for the most part these are much less profitable. These individuals are briefly identified in footnotes, but only once, and if they reappear, as they usually seem to do, they are difficult to remember. The front matter was annoyingly silent as to whether these are the complete diaries or excerpts; if the former, they could profitably been whittled down to size without losing much of general interest.½

Madly Deeply is a rare invitation into the mind of Alan Rickman—one of the most magnetic, beloved performers of our time.

From his breakout role in Die Hard to his outstanding, multifaceted performances in the Harry Potter films, Galaxy Quest, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and more, Alan Rickman cemented his legacy as a world-class actor. His air of dignity, his sonorous voice, and the knowing wit he brought to each role continue to captivate audiences today.

But Rickman’s ability to breathe life into projects wasn't confined to just his performances. As you'll find, Rickman's diaries detail the extraordinary and the ordinary, flitting between worldly and witty and gossipy, while remaining utterly candid throughout. He takes us inside his home, on trips with friends across the globe, and on the sets of films and plays ranging from Sense and Sensibility, to Noël Coward's Private Lives, to the final film he directed, A Little Chaos.

Running from 1993 to his death in 2016, the diaries provide singular insight into Rickman's public and private life. Reading them is like listening to Rickman chatting to a close companion. Meet Rickman the consummate professional actor, but also the friend, the traveler, the fan, the director, the enthusiast; in short, the man beyond the icon.

Madly, Deeply features a photo insert, a foreword by Emma Thompson, and an afterword by Rima Horton.

At one point, Alan Rickman looks back over his diary entries and wonders if, at some point, he won’t be able to decode them and recall “the sharp thoughts hidden between the safer lines.” If he, the author, worried about this, what hope have we, the reader? Which is to say, I didn’t get every cryptic reference.
I did catch enough to get a picture of the man. The persona in these pages is not as different from the public perception of him as Emma Thompson’s affectionate Foreword would have us believe; even she concedes he was “blissfully contradictory.” He demanded much from himself and others and could be distant and sardonic when it wasn’t forthcoming. But there was much more to him, or he wouldn’t have had the lifelong friendships so important to him. He was not really Hans Gruber or the Sheriff of Nottingham. More like Snape, perhaps, if any of the roles he was famed for express the person underneath.
Those looking for a Hollywood tell-all will be disappointed to know there is nothing about who slept with whom. Instead, we find someone passionate about the craft of acting, which, at its best, can be a “portal to a greater understanding of what it means to be human,” as Alan Taylor notes in his Introduction. Rickman could admire his colleagues yet be critical of poor preparation, upstaging, and not giving enough of oneself that the others in a scene had something to play off.
In general, he seems to enjoy working on stage more than film, with its emphasis on the shot rather than the scene. The word “process” appears frequently. Yet his notes on his stage experiences are full of critical remarks about directors who either dictate what they want and stifle the imagination of the cast or are so indecisive they fail to direct. Worse are the moneymen—the producers and distributors—who tinker with the script before and during production and fiddle with the finished product to make it more marketable (that is, more like dozens of other films). Other irritations are press conferences, where he is asked the same six questions worldwide, and reviews, particularly those that seem to have been written before seeing the show.
Rickman’s interest in theater dates back to his school days, an interest he shared with his longtime partner, Rima Horton. She employed her acting skills on a different stage, politics, while Rickman went to art school. One of the delights of this book is the reproduction of sample pages, more illustration than text.
The diary also reflects a life of too much alcohol, too little sleep, and a globe-trotting itinerary that sounds glamorous to those who don’t have to live through it. Add in on-set injuries and haphazard meals. It’s no wonder that as the book progresses, it becomes increasingly a necrology until Rickman, too, receives the diagnosis that initiates his final months. The poignant conclusion of the story is left to Rima Horton to recount.
Now to find out where I can see The Winter Guest, Galaxy Quest, In Search of John Gissing, and some other Rickman performances I’ve failed to catch.

[Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman]

I really wanted to love this book because I really loved Alan Rickman. Listening to it on audio was probably the best option; I think it would have been deadly in print. Stephen Crossley is a very good reader (although he doesn't have that voice that makes you feel like you're sinking into a warm bath with a glass of claret). He adds the touches of snarkiness and sarcasm that are needed at some points.

This is really more of a daily journal or calendar than a diary, and therein lies the problem. It's to very thrilling or particularly interesting to hear/read things like, "Lunch at noon with Emma and Kate. Nigella Lawson, Elton John, Susan Sarandon, and Dickie Attenborough at other tables." In other words, lots of lists, times, and names and not much else. Lots of name-dropping, lots of eating, lots of drinking. LOTS of drinking. There's an occasional commentary, like that Kate Winslet talks a lot about herself but shows no interest in anyone else. That evokes a slight chuckle and then is gone, just like the rest. Any details about film productions and publicity tours are in the same vein, and more than once the comments made me think that Alan must have been a bit of a snob. Sadly, the second half is pretty much all lists of people who are sick and sometimes visited in hospital, people who died, and funerals. I loved his work, but his "diaries" might better have been kept by his wife as a personal memento. If you really want more of Rickman, rewatch his films or listen to him reading Thomas Hardy's [The Return of the Native].

Although I was unfamiliar with many actors in his British stage circle, I found this a very interesting book. The frequency of Mr Rickman's international travel as well as the breadth of his works were impressive. I was a fan before, but this book made me a bigger one.

Potterheads will be disappointed that these diaries written in Rickman’s latter years only lightly addressed the boy wizard franchise. Instead he focuses on the business and technique of acting. In fact, he wanted out of the Potter franchise but ultimately saw it through. Most of his career was spent in the theatre before he became a movie star. There is lots of name dropping but not of the pretentious sort, rather he hobnobbed with the truly stellar lights of the industry, for how can one not talk about ones’s friends and workmates? Ordinary life enters in as well as he navigated health concerns, the loss of friends and family, home remodeling, and shopping. This is an intimate look at a complicated man that fellow thespians will find worth studying. 🎭

Somehow moving and dry at the same time... Certain passages are quite interesting - a bit of a behind-the-scenes glimpse of certain movies or moments in time. Many others are just name-dropping lists of who attended a particular event. It isn't that I didn't enjoy the book (I did, for the most part!) Rather it's frustrating to want to know more about a given topic and there isn't more; more can't be added because Alan Rickman didn't write more at the time and he's no longer here with us to embellish upon anything.

Choppy entries aside, I ended this book with tears in my eyes: AR was truly a talent and he was gone too soon.

More of an appointment book than a diary in my opinion.½

A completely different book. I've been a fan of Alan Rickman for a very, very, VERY long time and this book gave me a little bit of insight into the person he was. His commentary on people, events, and projects cracked me up more than once.
Now, if you're not really a fan of the actor, this might not be the book I'd recommend for you.

It really wasn't that interesting of a read, unless one is a huge Alan Rickman fan, or a fan of the inner workings of RADA.

These journals were meant to be shorthand to remember highlights of the day. It feels invasive to dip into them. There actually isn’t a lot of personal detail and only a minor bit of commentary. It’s mostly pickup times, flights to here there and everywhere in the world and lots of name dropping. He did travel in those rarified circles. But still…
Oh, and his time was marked by deaths in the industry, possibly friends, and award ceremonies and publicity.
Definitely for the voyeur.

Rickman actually summarizes the entries similarly: “ Re-reading some of this diary - a lot of people, a lot of places, eating, drinking, not too much thinking, shaping, doing.”

The narrator is not particularly good at capturing mood.

I wanted to dive into this because of the actor; I was hesitant that it would be an intrusion, but it sort of sounds like the diaries, were written with the expectation that they would be published/used in some format.

Lots of traveling entries! And minutiae, but the little sprinkles of these tidbits were a pleasure to hear.


Being in LA during the earthquake?
What TV shows Alan Rickman watched during the last month of his life?
The word "Severus" and "magic" used in a diary entry waaaaay before HP (I think) was intriguing.


The introduction and afterwards read by two very important people in his life were perfect bookends to the diary entries which he kept almost up to the very end of his life.

I listened to the audiobook and ending with an interview Alan Rickman gave allowed us to hear from him in his own voice about his theater life was very nice.

Terribly more-ish, but sometimes just terrible.
This is breezily readable, but in the beginning (1993) references too many esoteric films and theatrical names for me.
Moving further into the diary I begin to realise my age (Rickman goes to a Picasso exhibition which we went to when my wife was first pregnant).
From a 1994 entry about attending Glenys Kinnock's birthday party:
At one point I saw Michael Foot with his stick walking past the very uptight Tony Blair in a beige suit. Labour Party bookends.
But it goes on and the self important thespian grates when referencing political events and meetings with politicians with an apparently blinkered naïveté about politics. The left wing politics jars with the hedonistic jetset lifestyle (truly a champagne socialist).
But Rickman was also committed to RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and his many friends.
I admittedly read the diary mainly for the references to the filming of the Harry Potter movies and there are a reasonable number of entries across the years from 2000 to 2011. I also enjoyed the entries for Galaxy Quest and A Little Chaos (script first mentioned in 2001 but not screened until 2014).½

nonfiction - literal journal entry notes (1993-2015, with a smattering of introspective, but sporadic, entries from 1974-1982) not really meant for publication, sans the colorful illustrations that he apparently decorated the pages with (journaling before journaling was a thing).

Some of these entries are like half-formed poems, but most of it meaningless, unexplained, with very little context aside from the footnotes that identify the persons referred to (provided by the editor for clarification). I assume the more personal entries relating to his family life have been redacted (because if you're going to agree to publish someone's private diaries posthumously without his permission, it's only decent and sensible to exclude the more private information).

If only he'd lived to write up his own experiences (or if someone did the research and was able to pull actual, full anecdotes or even complete sentences) this might be interesting, but you only get sparse glimpses of a person who enjoyed watching movies and theater (and studying the craft, or criticizing the lack thereof), who was critical of certain politicians and the media, who procrastinated and occasionally suffered from hangovers and bouts of the cold/flu.

Without the writer to expand on all the oblique and unintelligible references, it is mostly pages and pages of words with little meaning. It is possible to find interesting tidbits and odd gems (or perhaps unkind remarks about certain specific colleagues), but you will definitely have to put some work in--
"1 May [1998]
Vince and his team paste me into my false crotch and away we go with a cinema first. Full frontal no frontal. Everyone takes many snaps which will doubtless wind up on the internet."

Helpfully, the editor has included an index so if you are curious as to what A.R. thought about a certain movie or person, you can quickly find out, though likely the half sentence that you get at the end of the trail will be somewhat disappointing.½

I would not have imagined reading someone else’s notes about their days would be fascinating, but Rickman led an interesting life filled with compelling work, travel, and dinners. He is critical, witty, and acidic in his observations. But through all of that is an underlying passion and curiosity about the world. He is generous with praise, when it is earned, and willing to take criticism just as he dishes it out and holds himself to the same high standard he holds everyone else to.

“The work is the pleasure but then always the judgment that can strip the pleasure like turpentine.”

The volume starts in 1993 until 2016. So quite a bit of his career not covered. The entries are short. Although it can't avoid talking about many other famous people (many of whom are personal friends) it's not a celeb biography in the tabloid sense.

It s clear he had a gift for friendship; for a man, he loved shopping, especially for clothes and shoes for he and his partner (later wife) Rima; boy do actors travel a lot. He was quite self aware, and yet also vulnerable at times - necessary for being a good actor I'd say. On the whole generous about most of those he worked with, but grouchy about anyone (especially directors) who hadn't done their homework or disrespected colleagues.

The diaries go up to a few weeks before his death. When they stop, his wife Rima has given a brief outline of his final weeks. This is followed by a few entries from short earlier journals, written by the young man taking first steps in his profession,

Some of the quotes in the media sound sharper taken out of context, they are aiming at Snappish edges me thinks.

I think how much you enjoy this volume will depend on how much of his work you have seen. As well as many movies (including for me a couple of overacted duds), I saw him on stage 9-10 times across two decades.

Watched over a few days with my husband and teenage son.

This is the BBC adaptation of the six Barchester Chronicles by Anthony Trollope, and we thought it very well done indeed. None of us had read the books, finding them a bit heavy-going, so we don't know how close these episodes are to the originals - but it all flowed well. The story is of intrigue and jealousies amongst the clergyman of a fictional city, with a bit of love interest along the way.

The main character is the excellent and almost-too-good-to-be-true Mr Harding, but in the latter episodes the villainous Mr Slope rather steals the show, played brilliantly by Alan Rickman. We wondered if this was the inspiration that gave him, later on, the part of Snape in the Harry Potter movies.

It's inevitably a little long-winded in places and rather slow-moving, but basically very enjoyable indeed.

When a crusade against the Church of England's practice of self-enrichment misfires, scandal taints the cozy community of Barchester when their local church becomes the object of a scathing, investigative report.

Having just listened to the audiobook of The Warden and Barchester Towers I wanted to see this adaption to see how it went. I was a bit Um on it. Some bits were great - Nigel Hawthorne was brill as was Donald Pleascence and Alan Rickman. But I thought Geraldine McEwan was terrible - she acted as if she was on a stage not on TV - lots of shouty projection.
And someone watching would have wondered where the heck the romance with Francis Arabin came from? - it just happens with no development at all.
As someone on YT has said recently, drama production has changed a lot in the past 20 years - this is a good example of what it used to be like.

I saw this play performed in 2005 and it blew me away. Fantastic - so sad but powerful.