20 Greatest 90s Movie Villains

11. Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves - The Sheriff Of Nottingham

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is one of those terrible films that tricked you into thinking it was good. Or rather, one man pulled off that trick, and that man was the late, great Alan Rickman.

Though by all accounts a delightful man in real life, Rickman was nevertheless a master at playing villains and, sure enough, he is completely and utterly brilliant as the Sheriff of Nottingham in this 1991 adaptation of an oft-told legend. He's deliriously evil and unhinged yet fiendishly entertaining to watch, creating a peerless mixture of hilarity and cruelty that absolutely explodes off the screen. Prince of Thieves, an otherwise lacklustre movie in most departments, only becomes fun when Rickman is around. 

Well, here's where it gets even more interesting. Rickman was unsatisfied with the script and requested more creative freedom in his performance. With the help of some screenwriter friends of his, he added in some new lines and very much made the character his own. Things like "Call off Christmas!" and "I'll cut your heart out with a spoon!" are all thanks to their efforts. 

Director Kevin Reynolds later fell out with studio executives when they locked him out of the final editing session. In these last edits, they cut down the Sheriff's role because he was overshadowing Robin Hood (a near-career worst Kevin Costner) too much; somewhere in Hollywood, there's a vault where one could find more of this delicious villain. That would be something well worth digging up!