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Alan Rickman's bound personal shooting script, revised script pages, handwritten notes, photos, crew clothing and additional ephemera from the production of Dean Parisot's sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest. Rickman played Shakespearean actor Alexander Dane, best known for portraying the alien Dr. Lazarus in the fictional TV show Galaxy Quest. This lot comes from the personal archive of the late Alan Rickman.
This lot comprises Rickman's personal script, which is printed on different coloured pages (indicating multiple revisions and each colour featuring a different date), has been annotated and/or highlighted on 74 pages by Rickman, and has also been hand-signed by Rickman on the cover; two sets of revised script pages; a leatherbound book featuring 30 pages of behind-the-scenes photos; three prop headshots autographed by Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Tim Allen's characters; a page of VFX storyboards; a ticket to the premiere at Mann's (now TCL) Chinese Theatre on December 19, 1999; Rickman's Galaxy Quest Fan Club membership card; an invite to a cast-and-crew party hosted by Rickman; a handwritten letter from Rickman responding to a complimentary fax from producer Jeffrey Sharpe; various handwritten notes from crew members to Rickman, congratulating him on his work, wishing him luck, or thanking him for the party; a pair of crew caps and a pair of crew T-shirts (size XL); and additional pieces of production ephemera and articles collected by Rickman.
The lot is held together in a plastic box marked "GALAXY QUEST - BLOWDRY" in Rickman's handwriting. Rickman personally archived all of his cinematic mementoes in this manner before his death in 2016. Dimensions (box): 33.5 cm x 26 cm x 6 cm (13.25" x 10.25" x 2.25")
Estimate: £4,000 - 8,000 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.
View all lots from GALAXY QUEST (1999)
View all lots from Alan Rickman Archive