Dishevelled: Kate Winslet in a scene from her new film A Little Chaos
But the actress didn’t exactly look overjoyed when she joined forces with him again to shoot scenes for new film A Little Chaos last week.
With her hair lank and unstyled, and wearing a loose-fitting blue dressing gown, her image certainly fitted the film’s title.
A Little Chaos tells the story of two rival landscape gardeners in 17th Century France vying for the favour of King Louis XIV for the chance to design a new fountain at his Versailles palace.
The movie, which has taken five years to bring to the big screen, also stars Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts.
It does not look as if director Rickman, 67, is asking Kate to revive the glamorous roles she played in Titanic and The Holiday.
The project marks a return to work for Kate, 37, who has been enjoying something of an extended honeymoon since her December marriage to third husband Ned Rocknroll, 34, the nephew of Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson.
The couple wed in New York with the bride given away by her Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.
Kate has a daughter Mia, 11, from her first marriage to production assistant Jim Threapleton, and a son Joe, nine, with her second husband, Skyfall director Sam Mendes.
Flashback: Rickman and Winslet in the 1995 hit film Sense and Sensibility
Reunited: On the set of A Little Chaos with Alan Rickman last week