![]() In addition, he’s constantly fooled by Robin Hood's disguises, despite his claims to the contrary.ĭespite this, he is shown to be extremely brainy and shrewd, as he was baffled by Prince John's unexpected claim that Robin Hood should be released, and immediately grew suspicious of John's tyrannical and dangerous behavior, with his suspicions being confirmed when he found Little John holding the prince hostage via knife-back. Despite his constant attempts to capture Robin Hood, he fails at all times. He’s unsympathetic and thoughtless to the poverty of the townspeople, using immoral ways to collect taxes, such as forcing out the coins that Otto hidden in his leg cast, regardless of the pain the blacksmith would endure from his broken leg in the process, or taking the single farthing that was in the church's poor box and laughing as he did it.ĭue to this, he is hated by the people of Nottingham, who often derisively refer to him as "Bushel-britches", referring to the Sheriff's rather morbidly obese physique. In contrast to Prince John (who is the villainous mastermind behind the many plans to stop Robin Hood), the Sheriff is a more active antagonist, constantly fighting and attempting to capture Robin Hood. He was charged to collect the taxes by Prince John. I didn’t know Alan Rickman, but I knew all those characters.The Sheriff was originally shown to be an honorable, otherwise stingy individual. I know many of you feel the same way, and it’s a comfort amidst a weird sadness. It’s a rare and wonderful thing, I think, to witness a person with such empathetic ability in so many roles, with so much power that he wasn’t merely an actor. Just as David Bowie’s music and performances were the backdrop to moments of importance in people’s lives, Alan Rickman’s art and gift for portraying different shades of humanity developed my own imagination as I read, or re-read a character. I suspect there are a plethora of words to describe his talent, and I’m feeling unworthy of the task of coming up with even three of them. Sometimes his acting was based solely on stiffness and nostril flares.Īnd even when not acting, it was hard to look away. The man could work ten emotions with awkward hair, one sneer…Īnd the part where he broke people’s hearts. He spent a large portion of Prince of Thieves raping, threatening to rape, killing or beating people, and could still be desperately ridiculous enough to make me laugh. Shakespeare, Austen, JK Rowling, ancient fables, and on and on. He was always adding – never detracting – from the depiction, and his roles ranged all over the place in terms of literature. Talent that compelling is a gift to watch, especially when portraying fictional characters adapted for screen. Rickman was a master of the subtle “WTF?” He could mix sneering confidence, careful neutrality, and scorn, and I still wanted him to keep talking. Rickman was, of all things, an excellent villain. We discuss the redemption of the villain and the reformation of the bad guy fairly frequently in romance, as some of our favorite, enduring characters have a moral ambiguity or a straight up villainous past. ![]() In 27 years, he played some of the most memorable roles, from Colonel Brandon to Hans Gruber to Severus Snape to the Sherriff of Nottingham in the otherwise ridiculous Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Lesson acquired: it’s never too late to do the thing. In the rapid stream of sadness and detail today, I learned that Rickman started his film acting career at age 42 – go on with your bad self, sir. ![]() I think the majority of reactions echoed mine: NO. For the second time this week, checking Twitter resulted in a gut-punch of sadness with the news that Alan Rickman passed away today at age 69.
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