Benedict Oliver Dudley "Ben" Clarke is a former British child actor who portrayed young Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.
Career[]
Clarke made his film debut in the commercially successful Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 when it was announced in late 2010 that he had been cast as the younger version of Severus Snape, played by fellow late British veteran Alan Rickman as an adult in all eight films and Alec Hopkins as a teenager in 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, respectively.
Then 13-years-old, a casting director visited Latymer Upper School in which Clarke was in attendance at the time, and invited a selection of students a chance to attend an open casting call. Clarke auditioned for the parts of either young James Potter or young Snape sometime in late 2009 to early 2010. On 25 January 2010, he was called back at Pinewood Studios where he met director David Yates and worked with a number of other potentials for the parts of young James Potter, Sirius Black, Severus Snape and Lily Evans. During the process, the children were asked to improvise short conversations. Another recall took place and he subsequently received a screen test with then 10-year-old Ellie Darcey-Alden (who would be cast as young Lily Evans) at Leavesden Studios "as well as an associated costume, hair and makeup meeting." In February, he and Ellie were notified they had received their respective parts. When asked by a fan of how he might have received the role, Clarke honestly admitted:
- "I guess [the filmmakers] just liked my awkwardness. (laughs) At the first audition, I was going for either young Snape or young James. It wasn't until I was recalled to audition in front of David Yates at Leavesden that I was told I'd be auditioning for the role of young Snape. And being a Harry Potter nerd, my description of Snape's character was pretty good. My acting on the other hand... (laughs)"
- — Benedict on why he may have been chosen for the part
Filming his scenes along with Darcey-Alden (young Lily), Ariella Paradise (young Petunia Dursley), Alfie McIlwain (young James Potter) and Rohan Gotobed (young Sirius Black) took place in April 2010. Shooting only lasted four days where one scene was shot per day while re-shoots and pick-ups were completed in early 2011.
To achieve the look required for his character, he had his naturally dark brown hair dyed black, had hair extensions glued on and wore dark contact lenses.
According to Darcey-Alden and Clarke at a 2013 LeakyCon cast junket in London, production alternated between sets at Leavesden Studios and on location shooting by the River Lea in the gardens of Hatfield Park near Hatfield House—both set in Hertfordshire, respectively. Of the river scene in particular, Clarke elaborated by saying:
- "[W]e did so many ludicrous camera angles, we had a camera up on a crane looking down at Ellie and I. And we had a camera crew coming across the river on a boat for one of those, and then they could play around [...] decide what they wanted, how they wanted to pan across the river and take a look at us. I thought it was really outstanding how they had such a ridiculous extent of angles to play with."
- — Benedict on filming The Prince's Tale
Darcey-Alden added:
- "We only did half-and-half at Leavesden. [...] There was the actual Hatfield House there and we got to have a look around and it was really beautiful."
- — Ellie on filming The Prince's Tale
Clarke further cited the river sequence as his favourite to shoot, saying:
- "It was a really beautiful location and such a special moment in terms of Severus and Lily's relationship."
- — Benedict on the river scene in The Prince's Tale
Once location shoots were completed, Darcey-Alden and Clarke joined McIlwain and Gotobed at Leavesden on the set of the Great Hall where the set was divided with one section of the Entrance Hall in ruins for the Battle of Hogwarts sequences; two days of shooting were completed from morning until evening, scheduled a week apart where three hours of school tutoring was provided. A week later, a final day of shooting commenced in the Hogwarts corridor where multiple takes had the four child actors walk and run up the corridor numerous times. The original cut had McIlwain and Gotobed chase a first year Slytherin student, though this detail was eventually omitted. "Though originally the scene was without dialogue," Gotobed revealed in a blog post, "I suggested to [David Yates] that I say 'Snivellus' as we pushed through Snape and Lily. David agreed that was a good idea, and even gave me a second line later on in the day, where I was supposed to say 'come on James' at the end of the brief scene. As you already know, both lines were cut for release in favour of [Radcliffe]'s voiceover [sic], which makes more sense in terms of the entire montage."
Clarke later mentioned that he was lucky enough to have briefly said hello to Rickman whilst filming, though admitted he "didn't talk to him as such." He and his mother later had a chance second meeting with the actor at the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 world premiere after party in Trafalgar Square, London on 7 July 2011 where he described him as "a classy guy," despite being "kind of scared of him" initially.
When Rickman tragically passed away, aged 69 from a secret battle with pancreatic cancer on 14 January 2016, Clarke went into further detail on his meeting with him in a special televised tribute at both Rickman and Clarke's former school, Latymer Upper:
- "I told him I was terrified that my nose was far too small for the part and he said, 'Don't worry. My nose was exactly the same size as yours when I was your age.' I'm not sure if it's true, but at the moment, at that time, that was very important to hear!"
- — Benedict on meeting Alan Rickman
Clarke has also been relatively open in discussing his views on Severus and Lily's relationship, commenting:
- "Bear in mind I'm the most contradictory person ever. I once tweeted, 'Snape deserved Lily.' And maybe he did. But I don't ship them, not really. Their friendship is lovely, but Sev decided to get involved in the Dark Arts, and called Lily a 'Mudblood' - he brought an end to it."
- — Benedict on The Prince's Tale
Since completing Potter, he has appeared in many short films, including lead parts in In the Wake of Sirens–a modern interpretation of William Golding's Lord of the Flies set within the confines of a locked car and was completed in late 2012–and Andys. The latter was loosely based on Philip K. Dick's 1968 science fiction novel, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? and was directed by fellow Harry Potter alum Alec Hopkins, best known for playing the teenage incarnation of Snape in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The film is a little over 10 minutes in length and while it was shot in March 2012, before Sirens, it wasn't released online via Hopkins' official Vimeo until early 2014.
In August 2017, he joined the cast of Cambridge University American Stage Tour's A Midsummer Night's Dream in the supporting role of Oberon, King of the Fairies and will be performed from 28 August until 7 October at multiple touring locations.
Personal life[]
Clarke was born in Hammersmith, west London. He enrolled at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in 2016, majoring in English literature and is expected to graduate in June 2019.
Roles[]
