Alan Rickman Absolutely Crushed In Iconic Villain Roles, And It Apparently Led To A Wild ‘Mandate’ In Hollywood
The late actor Alan Rickman may have never been nominated for an Oscar, but his unforgettable performances left a huge mark on cinema. Particularly, his masterful performances of portraying villains in movies like Die Hard and Rob in Hood: Prince of Thieves have made Rickman one of the most compelling actors of this generation. Apparently, the British actor's ability to crush iconic villain roles led to a wild "mandate" in Hollywood about how they should be written going forward.
Alan Rickman absolutely crushed his first major film role as terrorist leader Hans Gruber in Die Hard (which can be streamed on your Hulu subscription). For someone who originally didn't want his film debut to be an action movie, Rickman brought Hans Gruber to life with his cold demeanor and darkly humorous wit, stealing the show. But take it from another actor known for playing hated villains, Jason Isaacs, to reveal to Collider about the wild "mandate" that his Harry Potter co-star set for villains down the road:
And great storytelling in the days before Alan Rickman had completely changed villains forever. He stole Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Die Hard from Kevin Costner and Bruce Willis [so badly] that some mandate went around—I don't know if it was a secret memo or just an instinct—to never let a villain steal a film again.
So, we can look to Alan Rickman for changing the game of villains and why they should never steal the spotlight again. I can understand how conflicting that can be when the hero is supposed to be the scene-stealer, only for the villain to be the unexpected standout. The Love, Actually star was just the actor to accomplish that. Other than Die Hard, the Royal Shakespeare Company member continued to captivate audiences with antagonist roles like playing the campy Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Princes of Thieves and the sadistic Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd.
You could even argue that Alan Rickman's role as Snape in the Harry Potter movies first started out as an antagonist to the Hogwarts student. Before Rickman got to know Snape's character journey, he was reluctant to play the Slytherin character to avoid being typecast as a villain. But a conversation with author J.K. Rowling about the direction the two-dimensional Severus Snape would go to from book one to book seven changed his mind. Rickman's portrayal of a professor who balances a cold exterior with inner vulnerability made him one of the most captivating Harry Potter characters.
Even though the wild "mandate" in Hollywood said a villain can't steal a movie ever again, thanks to Alan Rickman, there were plenty of times that rule didn't quite stick. For example, Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker became the movie's most definable performance and even landed him a posthumous Oscar win. There's also Tom Hiddleston's Loki in the Thor and Avengers movies whose charm and wit turned him into a fan-favorite villain of the MCU. And we can't forget about the walking nightmare of Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, whose quiet intensity led the actor to win a Best Supporting Actor Award. Clearly, villains continue to overshadow the good guys.
So, Alan Rickman receiving love for playing bad guys may have led to a wild "mandate" in Hollywood about no more scene-stealing villains. However, an actor's chilling portrayal of an antagonist can be so effective that it's hard to ignore, even by the Academy. But we can thank the Golden Globe winner for showing actors how to create a layered villain to keep audiences shocked and entertained.
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