"I miss him very much": Ralph Fiennes opens up about his friend Alan Rickman three years after his death

19 March 2019, 11:40 | Updated: 19 March 2019, 12:35

Ralph starred in all eight Harry Potter films with Alan Rickman until the movie franchise came to an end in 2011.

Ralph Fiennes, 56, has opened up on his relationship with the late Alan Rickman, sighting the actor's "wit and sense of humour" as the qualities he misses the most.

The White Crow actor-director, who starred as Voldemort alongside Rickman in the Harry Potter films, claims he misses his friend "very much" and praised him as an "extraordinary" actor.

He told Heart: "I was friends with the wonderful Alan Rickman and I miss him very much. [I'll remember him for] his wit, his humour and his incredible loyalty to actors and friends.

"He would always come and see you in a play and he would give you wonderful insightful guidance about a perfomance, he had a brilliant understanding of how actors function, he was a very kind man and a kind generally."

Speaking on Rickman's long-running career, Ralph added: "He was a brilliant actor with a particular style that no one could come close to, the intelligence within one line-riding of Alan's was extraordinary."

Ralph starred in all eight Harry Potter films until the movie franchise came to an end in 2011.

While he admits he's lost touch with co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, he looks back fondly on their time on-set, claiming he saw them as family.

"I do remember, it being very happy and the producers wanting a very inclusive atmosphere," Ralph explained.

"It's very difficult on a film like that, you feel like you're part of a family. It's the same I would say in the way that Barbara Broccoli runs the Bond films - you feel there is a warmth, the producing heart of the Harry Potter films was very warm and inclusive."

Meanwhile, Ralph Fiennes has turned his hand to directing White Crow, a biopic which follows the life of Rudolf Nureyev on his journey to becoming a top ballet dancer in Russia.

Fiennes also stars in the film as Pushkin, a role which came with it's challenges as he had to learn a whole new language.

"It's a very hard language, and I speak it a little bit but I'm not fluent," he told Heart.

"I've had lessons on and off over the years, so I was a little bit rusty and if I'm away from speaking it for too long, then need to recharge the batteries.

He added: "When I was working on this I was wonderfully close with a Russian translator, and I had to repeat phrases over and over and try to be as accurate as I could."

Fiennes also pointed towards a little trick that helped him sound perfect on film.

He explained: "Thanks to advancements in technology I could post-record over a consonant or syllable over and over again. To Russians I will have a slight accent, and I do worry that I can slightly hear my deliberation in it."