When Alan Rickman was first offered the role of the villain in “Robin Hood: King of Thieves,” he still turned it down – among other things, rumor has it, because he didn’t enjoy the script too much. He only consented when he was given the so-called “carte blanche” assured. What does that mean? Rickman was given complete freedom in how he wanted to play the Sheriff of Nottingham and was also allowed to help shape his scenes and dialogues to a large extent. Director Kevin Reynolds promised to stay out of the role as much as possible. It wasn’t until Rickman was given these freedoms that he signed the contract.
Rickman’s joy in the film and in the role now arose, he shot completely freely and improvised much of all his spells. He is said to have presented so many different dialogues for one and the same scene that it was only decided in the editing room after filming which sentences to keep in the film and which to cut out. When “Robin Hood: King of Thieves” came to the cinema, Rickman in particular was explicitly praised and his many absurd sayings achieved cult status. For example, his threat to cut out Robin Hood’s heart with a spoon was interpreted in the same way as the announcement that he wanted to punish the people by canceling Christmas.
Also the peculiar fighting style by Rickman is iconic. When he competes with Robin Hood in a sword fight, he sometimes seems to dance with outstretched arms. This drunk-looking posture also goes back to improvisations by Rickman. He messed around so much during filming that he broke ten of his prop swords. Kevin Costner often had to struggle desperately to stay in the role with Rickman. Luckily he succeeded – and so many of Rickman’s ideas stayed in the film.
