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Alan Rickman's bound primary hand-annotated shooting script from the production of Kevin Reynolds' action-adventure Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The film was a box-office success, and Rickman's iconic portrayal of the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham earned him a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, his only win out of four nominations across his career. This lot comes from the personal archive of the late Alan Rickman.

The lot comprises Rickman's personal, hand-annotated script, which was Rickman's most heavily used copy during the production. It is credited to John Watson and Pen Densham and dated "24th August 1990". It is 131 pages long and has been heavily annotated and highlighted throughout, with Rickman making changes to the dialogue and crossing out sections. Rickman has annotated a total of 51 pages. 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. Some call sheets and torn pieces of paper are tucked between some pages, potentially used as bookmarks. The script is accompanied by a black-and-white photograph of Rickman in costume as the Sheriff of Nottingham. This script is the one which Rickman used most heavily during the filming process.

The lot comes in a plastic box labelled "PRINCE OF THIEVES" 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: £10,000 - 20,000 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