If you spend any time in Los Angeles, there's only one topic of conversation.

- Alan Rickman

If only life could be a little more tender and art a little more robust.

- Alan Rickman

I think every English actor is nervous of a Newcastle accent.

- Alan Rickman

What's interesting about the process of acting is how often you don't know what you're doing.

- Alan Rickman

On film you put all your energies into a single glance.

- Alan Rickman

When I get off the plane in England I always feel about two inches shorter.

- Alan Rickman

I have every sympathy for writers. It's a mystery to me what they do. I can edit. I can cross out and say, 'I'm not saying that' or, 'How about we move this to here? Wouldn't that make that bit of the story better?' But where any of it comes from is beyond me. I will never write a play or a novel.

- Alan Rickman

You can lull the paying customers as long as they get slapped.

- Alan Rickman

In theater, you've got to be aware of your whole body because it involves stamina. It involves two-and-a-half hours and a sustained release of energy, maybe for six months.

- Alan Rickman

Los Angeles is not a town full of airheads. There's a great deal of wonderful energy there. They say 'yes' to things; not like the endless 'nos' and 'hrrumphs' you get in England!

- Alan Rickman

Each character I play has different dimensions. I'm not interested in words that pull them together.

- Alan Rickman

You know, London is so sprawling, and you can sometimes forget that anybody else is on a stage anywhere else.

- Alan Rickman

Being on the stage in New York is always exciting because you feel like you're part of the life of the city.

- Alan Rickman

I love working in New York theater.

- Alan Rickman

I think worrying things are going on in England - a real apathy.

- Alan Rickman

I'm always aware of the camera and it feels like that's the audience.

- Alan Rickman

One longs for a director with a sense of imagination.

- Alan Rickman

Market forces impose certain rules before a film can actually get made.

- Alan Rickman

Originally, theater was my life. It was what I assumed I'd spend my working life doing - if I was lucky. Then along came movies.

- Alan Rickman

The audience should feel like voyeurs. Their response is absolutely crucial.

- Alan Rickman