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Alan Rickman's bound audition script and handwritten note from the production of John McTiernan's 1988 action film Die Hard.
This script was sent to Rickman so that he could prepare for his audition for Die Hard, the role which would launch his film career. This lot comes from the personal archive of the late Alan Rickman.
It is 123 pages long, credited to Jeb Stuart, and printed with the working title "Nothing Lasts Forever". It is dated "June 24, 1987". Additionally, "Nothing Lasts Forever" has been handwritten down the fore-edge of the script in black ink. The note has been handwritten in blue ink on Joan Hyler (Rickman's manager) letterhead paper, and lists page numbers and the word "Friday". The numbers relate to the Hans Gruber scenes Rickman was asked to prepare for the audition, which took place on a Friday. The script exhibits staining on some of the pages. Dimensions (script): 28 cm x 22 cm x 1.5 cm (11" x 8.75" x 0.5")
Estimate: £3,000 - 6,000 M
Equally at home on stage or screen, Alan Rickman was a major star, despite entering his profession late. After working in graphic design, his first theatrical engagement after graduating from RADA in 1974 was at the Library Theatre, Manchester, where, aged 28, he was contracted for a season of underwhelming plays.
Steady work followed, but an unhappy season with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1978 led Rickman to question his future. But after appearances at the Bush, London's pre-eminent fringe theatre of the time, in 1981, he found his spiritual home: the Royal Court Theatre. Rickman appeared in several shows, which established him as a leading man, but also provided him with the rehearsal technique - his "process" - which he would use in the preparation of every role he played. He returned to the RSC in 1985 to play the Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, first in Stratford, then the West End and finally Broadway, establishing him as a theatrical star.
Rickman's commitment to theatre meant that he did not make his theatrical film debut until 1988, but what a debut it was. Die Hard was an instant classic, with Rickman elevating a character who could have been the standard Euro-villain into a Hollywood Hall of Fame psychopath, Hans Gruber. Rickman became an overnight star at the age of forty-two, and three years later, he cemented his place in Hollywood with his film-stealing performance in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
He set about putting his fame to work for him, enabling "difficult" projects to get funding, as well as opening doors and wallets for his favourite causes. Rickman was a firm believer in "sending the elevator back down" and provided support to young actors, writers and theatres whenever possible. His fellow professionals shared audience adoration of him, and the young casts of the Harry Potter films could not have asked for a more generous mentor than Severus Snape, on whom they bestowed homemade gifts and awards - all of which Rickman kept, and form a poignant part of this archive.
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