Andrew Scott Stars in TIFF-Winning 'Elsinore' Trailer — SkimNews
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- Andrew Scott stars as Ian Charleson in Simon Stone's 'Elsinore,' portraying the 'Chariots of Fire' actor's 1989 fight to play Hamlet at the National Theatre while suffering complications from HIV.
- 'Elsinore' won at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Focus Features will release it in theaters on Friday, November 20.
- Scott said his own extensive Hamlet experience — including a 3-hour-50-minute version performed eight times a week — made it difficult to 'unlearn' his interpretation and apply it to Charleson's life-or-death stakes.
- Scott told Anne Thompson at Telluride that 'to be or not to be' carried different resonance for Charleson, who faced 'weeks or months' rather than a purely theatrical question.
- 'Elsinore' also stars Olivia Colman, Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Luke Thompson, David Dawson, Matthew Beard, Joe Locke, Monica Dolan, Georgie Glen, Sadie Soverall, Adeel Akhtar, Dickie Beau, Kadiff Kirwan, Juliet Stevenson, and Peter Mullan.
- Scott's post-'Fleabag' trajectory has trended toward darker material, including 'All of Us Strangers' (2023), a one-man 'Vanya' staging, Netflix's 'Ripley,' and a supporting turn as Richard Rodgers in last year's 'Blue Moon.'
Why it matters: Scott draws on years of his own grueling Hamlet performances to portray a real actor who played the same role while dying, reframing 'to be or not to be' as literal mortality. The November 20 Focus Features release positions the TIFF winner as Scott's most personal awards-season vehicle following 'All of Us Strangers' and 'Ripley.'
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