Alan Rickman: Die Hard confused me

Alan Rickman had no idea what he was doing in Die Hard.

The 69-year-old actor landed his first big movie part in the form of German villain Hans Gruber in the 1988 action flick alongside Bruce Willis.

It was a big jump for Alan, who previously had small roles on TV, and he found the process hard to take in, especially after beginning his career on the stage in plays such as Romeo and Juliet.

"At the time, I kind of thought, 'What the f**k am I doing' That gave me an innocence that was good. And it was exciting just to be in that world. But at the same time, it was a bit of, 'I honestly don't know where this fits into any sort of shape. But, oh well, just better go with it,'" he recalled to Empire magazine. "All I knew was that I could only take my theatre experience to the job, and John McTiernan [director] said fairly early on, 'I've learned with you I've gotta be ready for the first take.' I didn't know what take two, three, four and five and six were all about."

Alan is best known for playing Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter franchise, a character who he describes as strong and "complicated".

He hasn't taken on many jobs since the films ended in 2011 but he is now back on the silver screen as King Louis XIV in A Little Chaos alongside Kate Winslet.

Asked what made him sign up to the upcoming feature, Alan put it down to the storyline.

"There was always a sort of freshness to the dialogue that made me kind of jump with its newness. And then as time went on, I became more and more aware that this was written by a woman. Because, although there are three names on the screenplay, Jeremy [Brock, writer] and I really were putting plaster between the bricks or rearranging the bricks. The film is about what it is to be a woman who cannot have a professional life in a world that's totally male-dominated," he explained.