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AN: Well, this is what I've found so far from reading and listening to JKR and some Alan interviews. Some of it is kind of repeated, and some of it is just about Alan Rickman playing Snape. I just thought it would be nice to have a page, just for Snape excerpts, that way you don't have to go tromping through the wilds of the World Wide Web to find them, hehe. Also, if you know of any interviews where she said something revealing about Snape, please e-mail me at lilysnape Enjoy reading them!
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From Newsweek Web Exclusive 2003
Q: Do you have favorite characters?
JKR: I really like Snape. I mean, I wouldn�t want to have a dinner with him, but as a character he�s great because he�s complicated and quite nasty. I love Dumbledore. I love Hagrid. I really like Sirius because he�s a troubled adult and there may be a slight dearth in some children�s literature of adult characters who are allowed to be complex or have problems. It�s hard actually to name the characters I don�t like. Because if I didn�t like a character as a character I just wouldn�t use them.
From Comic Relief:
Q: How old is Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape?
JKR: Dumbledore's about 150 years old...wizards have a longer life expectancy than muggles. Snape's 35 or 36.
Larry King interview:
Q: You are a name freak?
JKR: I am a bit of a name freak. A lot of the names that I didn't invent come from maps. Snape is a place name in Britian.
AOL Chat transcript:
Q: Why did you make Quirrell the bad guy instead of Snape?
JKR: Because I know all about Snape, and he wasn't about to put on a turban.
Q: Ms. Rowling, where do you come up with the names of the characters, like Quidditch?
JKR: Quidditch is a name I invented. I just wanted a word which began with the letter 'Q'(I don't know why, it was just a whim). Many of the names are taken from maps-for instance, Snape, which is an English village.
Q: Ms. Rowling, which character besides Harry is your favorite, and why?
JKR: I think that would have to be Hagrid-but I love Ron and Hermione too, and I also love writing characters like Gilderoy Lockhart, Snape, the Dursleys...it's such fun doing horrible things to them.
From familyeducation.com:
Q: Who's your favorite character besides Harry Potter?
JKR: It's very hard to choose. It's fun to write about Snape because he's a deeply horrible person. Hagrid is someone I'd love to meet.
From Amazon.co.uk:
Q: Are your characters based on people you know?
JKR: Some of them are, but I have to be extremely careful what I say about this. Mostly, real people inspire a character, but once they are inside your head they start turning into something quite different. Professor Snape and Gilderoy Lockhart both started as exaggerated versions of people I've met, but became rather different once I got them on the page. Hermione is a bit like me when I was 11, though much cleverer.
From Yahooligans chat interview:
Q: Why does Professor Dumbledore allow Professor Snape to be so nasty to the students (especially Harry, Hermione, and Neville)?
JKR: Dumbledore believes there are all sorts of lessons in life...horrible teachers like Snape are one of them!
Q: The character of Professor Snape fascinates me. Will you reveal his backstory further in the next Harry Potter book?
JKR: You will find out more about Snape in future books. Keep an eye on him!
From Newsround:
JKR: "I did give certain information to Robbie Coltrane, the background story about Hagrid, and I gave Alan Rickman a little bit on Snape," she told Newsround's Lizo Mzimba. "But no one should go out and kidnap them because they won't talk!"
From Oregon.com:
("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" has been cast. Rowling said she was especially delighted that Maggie Smith is playing Professor McGonagall, Robbie Coltrane is playing Hagrid, and Alan Rickman is playing Snape.)
Southwest News:
Q: Where do the Hogwarts teachers live during the school holidays? Do they stay at Hogwarts?
JKR: No, they don't. Filch, the caretaker, stays.
National Press Club Aurthor's Luncheon:
Q: Why does Harry Potter's lightning scar flash when Snape looks at him?
JKR: Quirrell had the back of his head to Harry at the point when Harry looked at Snape, so someone else was looking at Harry through a certain turban.
Click here to listen. This interview sounds more encouraging if you listen to it. :)
The connection interview:
Int: What about Snape?
JKR: Snape is a very sadistic teacher, uh, loosely based on a teacher I myself had, I have to say. Uhm, I think children are very aware, and we're kidding ourselves if we don't think that they are, that teachers do sometimes abuse their power, and this particular teacher does abuse his power, he's not a particularly pleasant person at all. However, everyone should keep their eye on Snape, I'll just say that, because there's more to him than meets the eye, and you will find out part of what I'm talking about if you read Book 4.
Int: One of our internet correspondence wondered if Snape is ever going to fall in love?
JKR: (laughs) Yeah, uh, who on earth would want Snape in love with them, that is a very horrible idea, uhm...
Int: But you've got an important kind of redemptive uhm pattern for Snape...
JKR: Uh, it is isn't it, I've got...there's so much I wish I could say to you, and I can't because it ruins...I promise you, whoever asked that question, can I just say to you, that I'm-I'm slightly stunned that you said that, uhm, and you'll find out why I'm so stunned if you read Book 7, and that's all I'm going to say.
Int: Hmm, this is encouraging...
I found this article interesting that was written by a Snape fan. Apparently JK Rowling was a punk rock fan, so maybe she likes Snape...I live in hope! article
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A Film Festival Interview:
Q: Have you noticed a big difference in your career since you've done Snape in the Harry Potter films?
AR: Harry Potter feels like a whole other part of my life. It's somehow not part of the me who did Private Lives in the West End and the me who directed, and who did Love Actually. Harry Potter is like a pocket of life that I go and visit again from time to time.
Q: Have you read all the Harry Potter books? Are you a fan?
AR: You can't stop turning the pages, can you? But I haven't read them all - I have to try to catch up as we film.
Q: The part of Snape seemed so perfect for you... there was something about it which made it look like you were stretched and yet sort of confined at the same time. Did you feel that?
AR: Good way of putting it, actually. Because that's what Snape's like. There are such still waters in there. And the trouble is that there's so much we don't know yet 'cause JK Rowling hasn't revealed it. I know a couple of things about all that, that you don't and I'm not telling...
Q: How do you get the dreadful Snape hair?
AR: Easy. It's a wig.
From Unreel Magazine:
Q: Can you tell us a little about your character, Professor Snape?
AR: Well, he's a Professor of Potions and the current head of Slytherin at Hogwarts-the school of wizardry that Harry attends, but he harbors a secret ambition to be a Professor of Dark Arts. He isn't that taken with Harry, though, probably because he finds him a little too popular for a first year pupil, I suppose. I think at heart, Snape is basically quite an insecure person, he's always longing to be something else that people would really respect, like a black magician, not just a school master. That's why he envies the more popular and sucessful boys like Harry. He does have his positive side, though, even though Harry's a thorn in his side, he doesn't let it worry him too much.
Q: In the earlier part in your life, you were also in a profession that you wanted to get out of so you could become something else that people would respect more. Do you think this was the element of yourself that you brought to the part of Snape?
AR: Hmm, thats an interesting quesiton, I'm not sure I can answer it. I dont know if it's for me to judge, you'd have to ask the people around me.....family and colleagues. You use yourself in everything you do, but at the same time you've got to have a very clear idea of another person. Otherwise I don't see how you can hand yourself over to it. He's not me. And also perhaps at particular times in your life you recognise certain parts as being closer to you now than they might have been five years ago. But no, every part has to have its own life to me-it isn't just me wiping myself across a stage or screen.
Q: Professor Snape is also a Quidditch referee, does this mean you've now mastered all the rules?
AR: No and I don't intend to.
Click here to listen to AR's yummy voice! lol.
From Warner Brothers:
AR: He seems to be one thing, then he constantly pulls the rug out from under your feet, because of course, not to give anything away, he did save Harry Potter�s life. I think it�s an ongoing story, and uh, you know we�ll discover more about him and his past as the books go on.