After all this time, does the cast have fond memories of the man who played Professor Snape? Always.

Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood)

“Alan was a Method actor, so we were all pretty much terrified of him on set. [Laughs] I just remember him being creepy around the corridors. He didn’t smile, and everyone talked about him in a reverent tone. But the memory that sticks out to me was we were allowed to bring guests [to the set], but we had to ask the producers’ permission and sign all these forms. It was the kind of thing [that you were] allowed to do, but you didn’t do it too much. Like, if you did it too much, you were pushing it. But Alan Rickman, pretty much every day of filming, he had a whole troop of little children [visiting]. It was the most bizarre scene to see Snape in this black robe, usually with, like, a bib on — we had to wear these bibs so we didn’t ruin our costume — surrounded by all these happy little children who were just chatting away to him.”

Oliver Phelps (George Weasley)

“I remember once he’d come back from an awards show or something and in the gift box was an iPod, when they’d first come about. I remember being next to him in the hair and makeup room, and I ended up showing Alan Rickman how to work an iPod, which was not what I thought I’d ever do in my life. He was a very approachable guy once you saw past Snape’s wig. He was great, especially in terms of [being able to ask], ‘How would you do this?’ or ‘Am I doing this right?’ It was very funny watching how he could go from one minute as Snape to the next minute [as] Alan Rickman, very personable.”

Image zoom Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.

Warwick Davis (Professor Flitwick)

”When Alan was in his Snape robes and wig walking into the Great Hall, you could almost hear a hush come over the place. He’d sit down at the head table, and I remember looking over one day and seeing something that kind of shattered the entire illusion of the mysteriousness he had. I could just see, sneaking behind his wig and down into his robes, the white wire of some iPod headphones. He was just quietly listening to something, and I started to wonder, what does Alan Rickman as Professor Snape listen to on his iPod? An audiobook? Some Shakespeare? Some classical music? Europop? Some techno beats? I don’t know. I never did ask him, and I wish I had. I’d love to have known.”

Chris Columbus (director, Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets)