Alan Rickman would have been proud Eye in the Sky was last role

 Helen Mirren believes part as general in new thriller suited late actor’s intelligence, showing his witty and thoughtful side.

Alan Rickman would have been proud that his last on-screen performance will be in the upcoming thriller about drone warfare, Eye in the Sky, according to co-star Helen Mirren.Mirren said the film, which follows the progress of a drone strike from multiple viewpoints and features Rickman as a British general trying to get authorisation for a strike, suited the late actor’s “intelligence”.

“It was the Alan that I know: the witty, thoughtful Alan rather than the villain that he played so brilliantly,” she told the Radio Times. “I hope I don’t speak out of place, but I think that if Alan had the choice, he would have been proud of this as his last movie.The subject matter is absolutely where his intelligence was. He was very politically aware, conscientious and thoughtful. I’m sure that’s why he would have chosen it in the first place.”

Rickman died from cancer at the age of 69 in January. He was one of the UK’s most loved actors, achieving global fame through roles such as Bruce Willis’s nemesis Hans Gruber in Die Hard , and more recently Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films.Eye in the Sky, which is released on Friday and also stars Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, is dedicated to Rickman’s memory. The film is Rickman’s last on screen, however he will voice a character in the Alice in Wonderland Sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, which is due for release next month.

Mirren was a contemporary of Rickman’s and starred “rather disastrously” with him in a theatre production of Anthony and Cleopatra in 1989.In Eye in the Sky, Mirren plays Colonel Katherine Powell, who is directing the strike. She said one of the things she enjoyed about the film was its attempt to explore different sides of the debate, and shift sympathies between characters. In one instance a female politician argues against killing civilians, only to justify her stance based on the need to win a propaganda war against the enemy.

She said: “She comes out with the most unbelievably cynical reasoning, … But then again, it’s true: you do have to win the propaganda war. But that’s the beauty of the film. You see the issue from all sides.”