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Alan Rickman's bound personal annotated shooting script from the production of Kevin Reynolds' action-adventure Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In 1992, Rickman's performance in this movie won him the BAFTA for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. This lot comes from the personal archive of the late Alan Rickman.

This 131-page shooting script has been extensively annotated by Rickman, featuring highlighted lines, dialogue alterations in blue ink, and other notes, including costume references, written in black ink. It is less heavily used than Rickman's primary script, which is also a lot in this auction. For example, page 61 includes Rickman's addition of his famous line, "You. My room, 10.30. You, 10.45. And bring a friend". This line was suggested by his friends, screenwriter Peter Barnes and comedian Ruby Wax. Additional examples include: opposite page 21, Rickman extensively rewrites his dialogue for that particular scene; opposite pages 47 and 50, he writes "Sunday Best", an allusion to his costume for that scene; and opposite page 123, he writes the stage direction "undo sword belt".

The lot also includes a faded behind-the-scenes photograph of Rickman in costume, and a production call sheet dated "11 December 1990". The script is missing its cover and title pages, and the pages exhibit dirt stains and crumpled edges. Some pages are also partially detached from the metal pins holding the script together. Dimensions: 30.5 cm x 21.5 cm x 2.25 cm (12" x 8.5" x 1")

Estimate: £5,000 - 10,000 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 ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES (1991)

View all lots from Alan Rickman Archive