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Alan Rickman's hand-annotated script, handwritten notes, behind-the-scenes photos, call sheets and other production ephemera from the production of Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility. This lot comes from the personal archive of the late Alan Rickman.
Included in the lot are two scripts, credited to Emma Thompson, dated "January 24, 1994" and "March 20, 1995", respectively. The latter of the two, an incomplete script, has been hand-annotated by Rickman, with 46 pages annotated in total, and his name handwritten on the front page. Of note among the annotations is a fully handwritten excerpt of Brandon's confession to Elinor regarding Willoughby, scrawled on the back of a script page, as well as extensive annotations in the margins of the typed scene. Also included are a number of behind-the-scenes photos, one of which has been autographed by Rickman in black ink, handwritten character notes composed by Rickman for Colonel Brandon, cast and crew gala dinner invitations, call sheets, a trailer sign, and various typed communications from the film's production.
The lot is held together in a plastic box marked "SENSE AND SENSIBILITY" in Rickman's handwriting. Rickman personally archived 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 SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995)
View all lots from Alan Rickman Archive