‘Elsinore’ with Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman Gets November Release Date and First Look Ahead of TIFF
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- Focus Features acquired "Elsinore" and set a November 20 limited release, expanding wider over Thanksgiving and into December — the same TIFF-to-Thanksgiving playbook it used last year with "Hamnet."
- Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman star in the film, directed by Simon Stone ("The Daughter," "The Dig"), with additional cast including Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Luke Thompson, David Dawson, Monica Dolan, Matthew Beard, Joe Locke, and Peter Mullan.
- The film tells the story of Ian Charleson, the "Chariots of Fire" and "Gandhi" actor who died of AIDS in 1990 at age 40 after asking that his HIV diagnosis be kept secret until after his death to raise awareness — the first UK show-business figure publicly identified as dying from the AIDS epidemic.
- The TIFF bow is billed as a "Canadian premiere," making Telluride a likely world-premiere venue since "Elsinore" was not announced as part of the Venice lineup.
- Written by Stephen Beresford ("Pride"), "Elsinore" is produced by Studiocanal, LD Entertainment, Lucky Red, and Magnolia Mae Films, with Studiocanal handling worldwide sales and theatrical release in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Benelux, Australia, and New Zealand.
- Focus's loaded fall awards slate also includes Robert Eggers' "Werwulf," Paul Greengrass' "The Uprising," and Georgia Oakley's new "Sense and Sensibility" adaptation, plus its box-office breakout "Obsession" being pushed into the awards conversation.
Why it matters: Focus is repeating the exact TIFF-to-Thanksgiving playbook that worked for "Hamnet" last year, banking on the prestige pairing of Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman and the emotional weight of Ian Charleson's AIDS-era story to anchor an unusually concentrated awards push that also includes "Werwulf" and "The Uprising."
