Alan Rickman And Marc Evans On Snow Cake

"I'm drinking a bloody Mary. I'm told it will do me some good."

It's midday in a hotel lounge and Marc Evans is hungover. This is forgivable, as last night saw the UK premiere of his new movie, Snow Cake, the wine was flowing at the party afterwards and he ended up drinking with Steve Coogan until 5am. And, goddamit, this is the sixtieth Edinburgh International Film Festival: it's practically illegal not to have booze for breakfast.

"It's a fantastic festival, one of my favourites," he enthuses, eyes sparkling as the vodka works its magic. "And Edinburgh's great anyway. I'm very proud to be Welsh but I'm very jealous Scotland has got such an amazing capital city."

If Alan Rickman is feeling any ill effects from the party, he's certainly hiding it well. Immaculately dressed in a dark grey suit, he is as sombre and intimidating as he is on screen. The part he plays in Snow Cake - a dour curmudgeon with a nice line in sarcastic put-downs - was written with him in mind. Does he ever worry that the public's perception of him is, well, pretty close to Phil Cornwell's impersonation of him in 'Dead Ringers'?

"I don't watch 'Dead Ringers'," he rumbles in what seems like irritation but, thankfully, is followed up by an amused laugh. "Public perceptions are what they are and you can't think about it. I'm sure anybody who has any kind of public persona would say that it's not a lot to do with the real person. I just get on with it really."

Just getting on with it, Rickman turns in yet another masterful performance in Snow Cake. Without giving too much away, he plays a British man who, just out of prison in Canada, winds up staying in a small town in Northern Ontario where he takes a lover (Carrie-Anne Moss) and moves in with Alice, an acutely autistic woman played by Sigourney Weaver. It's quite a departure for Evans, best known for dark and doomy fare like My Little Eye, House Of America and Resurrection Man.

Next page • "Weaver unnervingly refused to look Rickman in the eye"