A still from ‘Elsinore’
| Photo Credit: Focus Features
Focus Features has released the first trailer for Elsinore, Simon Stone’s drama about Scottish actor Ian Charleson, with Andrew Scott playing the Chariots of Fire star and Olivia Colman portraying the doctor who treats him after he is diagnosed with AIDS. The film follows Charleson as he prepares to play Hamlet at London’s National Theatre in 1989, confronting his diagnosis while taking on the stage role he had long wanted to perform.
The trailer begins with Charleson being told, “The people who come here want to live, Ian. You, on the other hand, only want to play Hamlet.” Scott’s character is shown rehearsing Shakespeare’s tragedy while dealing with the physical consequences of his illness. Colman plays Margaret Johnson, the doctor treating Charleson and other patients during the HIV epidemic, while Billie Piper and Johnny Flynn are also featured in the ensemble.
Charleson was already internationally known when he took on Hamlet. He had played Eric Liddell in Hugh Hudson’s Chariots of Fire, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1982, and had developed a substantial theatre career in Britain. After Daniel Day-Lewis left the National Theatre production of Hamlet, Charleson assumed the title role and ultimately performed 24 times before his death from AIDS-related complications in January 1990, aged 40.
The film moves between Charleson’s life and his performance as Hamlet, with the trailer connecting the actor’s experience of mortality to Shakespeare’s character. Scott is shown delivering lines from the play onstage as his health deteriorates away from the theatre, while Colman’s doctor character challenges his determination to continue performing.
Elsinore is written by Stephen Beresford, whose credits include Pride, and is based on an idea by Ethan Silverman. Stone, whose previous films include The Daughter, The Dig and The Woman in Cabin 10, directs the film. The cast also includes Joe Locke, Luke Thompson, David Dawson, Matthew Beard, Monica Dolan, Juliet Stevenson and Peter Mullan.
The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival before screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the International People’s Choice Award. The TIFF recognition placed Scott’s performance and Stone’s film among the festival’s early awards-season standouts, with the film now heading to the BFI London Film Festival as its European premiere on October 7.
Elsinore will open in select U.S. theatres on November 20 through Focus Features before expanding through additional markets.
Published – September 29, 2026 11:59 am IST
