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What JK Rowling told Alan Rickman about Snape

In this June 17, 2015 file photo, actor Alan Rickman attends the premiere of "A Little Chaos" at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York

Yuji Vincent Gonzales (The Jakarta Post)
Tue, January 19, 2016

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What JK Rowling told Alan Rickman about Snape In this June 17, 2015 file photo, actor Alan Rickman attends the premiere of "A Little Chaos" at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York. British actor Alan Rickman, whose career ranged from Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company to the “Harry Potter” films, has died. He was 69. Rickman’s family said Jan. 14 that the actor had died after a battle with cancer. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) (Photo by Evan Agostini)

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span class="inline inline-center">In this June 17, 2015 file photo, actor Alan Rickman attends the premiere of "A Little Chaos" at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York. British actor Alan Rickman, whose career ranged from Britain'€™s Royal Shakespeare Company to the '€œHarry Potter'€ films, has died. He was 69. Rickman'€™s family said Jan. 14 that the actor had died after a battle with cancer. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

JK Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter series, has revealed a major clue that she told late British actor Alan Rickman about the complex and ambiguous character of Hogwarts professor Severus Snape.

Following Rickman'€™s death, Rowling answered a fan on Twitter who asked what information she gave the late actor to '€œget a handle'€ on how to play the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher in the Potter films.

'€œWill you tell us the piece of information that you told Alan Rickman about Severus Snape? Or will that forever be a secret?'€ @sarahrosefrank tweeted.

'€œI told Alan what lies behind the word '€˜always,'€™'€ Rowling replied.

In previous interviews, Rickman was quoted as saying that he spoke with Rowling to seek help on how to play Snape.

'€œShe certainly didn'€™t tell me what the end of the story was going to be in any way at all, so I was having to buy the books along with everybody else,'€ Rickman reportedly said in an interview with Ireland'€™s RTE.

'€œNo, she gave me one little piece of information, which I always said I would never share with anybody and never have, and never will. It wasn'€™t a plot point, or crucial in any tangible way, but it was crucial to me as a piece of information that made me travel down that road rather than that one or that one or that one,'€ he said.

'€œAlways'€ was a famous line in the final installment of the Harry Potter series, which referred to Snape'€™s enduring love to the main protagonist'€™s mother, Lily. (kes)

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