Alan Rickman

Lee Daniels' The Butler

After leaving the South as a young man and finding employment at an elite hotel in Washington, D.C., Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he is hired as a butler at the White House. Over the course of three decades, Cecil has a front-row seat to history and the inner workings of the Oval Office. However, his commitment to his "First Family" leads to tension at home, alienating his wife (Oprah Winfrey) and causing conflict with his anti-establishment son.

Something the Lord Made

Although Vivien Thomas (Mos Def), a black man in the 1930s, is originally hired as a janitor, he proves himself adept at assisting the "Blue Baby doctor," Alfred Blalock (Alan Rickman), with his medical research. When Blalock insists that Thomas follow him to Johns Hopkins University, they must find a way to skirt a racist system to continue their study of infant heart disease. Thomas is indispensable to Blalock's progress, but Blalock is the only one who is allowed to receive the acclaim.

Michael Collins

In the early 20th century, Michael Collins (Liam Neeson) leads the Irish Republican Army with the help of his friends Harry Boland (Aidan Quinn) and Eamon de Valera (Alan Rickman), in a violent battle for Ireland's independence from Britain. But, when he fears the defeat of his revolution, Collins negotiates a treaty with the British, deeming him a traitor to the IRA. When he receives orders to murder his friends, Collins must decide where his loyalties lie.