What Exactly Alan Rickman Had Stolen From the Harry Potter Set?
Alan Rickman was an expert prop thief.
Memorabilia is what fills our lives with heartwarming nostalgia. The objects associated with beloved people and events of the past allow us to go back in time and relive exciting and important moments.
Of course, for many actors, the time spent on the sets of various projects, especially those that become hits, is the most memorable time of their lives.
And it is only natural to take something home to commemorate that time, even if such behavior is frowned upon.
Apparently, Alan Rickman was not only a brilliant actor but also an expert at stealing items from the set. In fact, he began his time on the Harry Potter set by stealing very important props, the Gringotts coins.
He must have known then that the franchise would become iconic. But according to Jason Isaacs, who played Lucius Malfoy, Rickman's near-illegal act became a problem for other actors who also wanted to take something memorable from the set.
Security became particularly suspicious and took a strict approach to preventing props from being stolen.
"It was very difficult to steal things because Alan, god love him, god rest his soul. He nicked all of the Gringotts coins on the very first day he did Goblins and swiped in and out like a supermarket," Isaacs recalled (via Cinemablend).
Rickman's success in walking away with the magic gold inspired Isaacs and he decided to take a souvenir as well. But he took a different approach that led to one of the most embarrassing moments of his life.
Being a reasonable person, he set his sights on the one prop that was available in thousands of copies and couldn't be missed, the Daily Prophet newspaper.
He even asked David Yates if he could take a copy home with him, to which the director said a resounding "yes." But as the happy new owner of the prop was on his way home, things got complicated.
"I put it in my bag and when I got to the gates, they said, 'David said can he have it back.' It was so embarrassing," Isaacs described.
Unfortunately, all the actor got out of the filming of Harry Potter was this embarrassing memory. Apparently, you have to be Alan Rickman to get away with something like stealing studio property.
We are pretty sure that if Rickman had wanted to, he could have walked off the set with Hedwig just by mesmerizing securities with his iconic soothing voice.