Before his passing, Alan Rickman made quite a name for himself. You can’t think of a genre that he didn’t touch in some way. From Dogma to Harry Potter, the veteran actor had zero limitations. Even on a set with intricate action sequences, Rickman felt at home. For instance, he decided to perform his final sequence on the Die Hard set when a stunt performer could’ve done the same thing in his place.
For those who don’t recall, Rickman’s character Hans Gruber winds up hanging from the penthouse of Nakatomi Plaza after an intense showdown with John McClane (Bruce Willis). The villain inevitably falls to his death, becoming the crux of the series, as his relatives seek revenge.
Oddly enough, the option was on the table for a stunt double to come in, except Rickman chose to do it himself. The surprising thing is it wasn’t an average stunt. Production set up an elevated platform with a 15-foot drop so that Gruber (Rickman) would appear to be actually falling out of a building. They could’ve gone with a paper background or a digital creation, but Tiernan aimed for authenticity.
On top of wanting a specific ending for his film, Tiernan played a little trick on Rickman.
During the setup for dropping Rickman, stage setup announced the count aloud. But instead of counting one, two, three, he had the coordinator release Rickman’s harness on the count of one. Doing so gave the camera an authentic reaction instead of something manufactured because no matter how well practiced, an instinctual response will come out better than an acted one.
Rickman didn’t seem to have a problem with the gag because the situation never came up; this is the first time many people are hearing that Rickman performed the stunt on his own. But it’s not the only one.
The Harry Potter actor has been a do-it-himself type of person while on set since he arrived on the scene. Rickman decided to make the dives for Dark Harbor when he could’ve opted not to.
In it, his character jumps off a speedboat to save someone. The extraordinary factor is how Rickman wasn’t obligated to make the dive. Production had a stunt double on standby to perform the spot instead of him, but he chose to make multiple dives into the freezing-cold lake water. Most actors would decide against it, but Rickman was a purist of his craft. Sadly, he passed away in 2016 due to pancreatic cancer.