Elsinore is a 2026 biographical drama film directed by Simon Stone and written by Stephen Beresford, about Scottish actor Ian Charleson (1949–1990). It focuses on his performances as Hamlet at the National Theatre in the final months of his life, and the odds he faced in preparing for and performing the role while seriously ill from AIDS. It stars Andrew Scott as Charleson, alongside Olivia Colman as Margaret Johnson, Charleson's doctor.
The film had its world premiere at the 53rd Telluride Film Festival on 4 September 2026, and is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States by Focus Features on 20 November 2026. The film has received positive reviews from critics.
Contents
Plot
In the autumn of 1989, 40-year-old actor Ian Charleson's film career has been stalled for many years since his early successes starring in Chariots of Fire (1981) and co-starring in Gandhi (1982). He yearns to return to the stage, where he has had several lead roles at the National Theatre.
When Daniel Day-Lewis as Hamlet suddenly walks off the stage mid-play and abandons Richard Eyre's production of Hamlet at the National, Charleson sees his chance. The problem is that Charleson has AIDS and has even developed Kaposi's sarcoma lesions. Margaret Johnson, Charleson's doctor at the Royal Free Hospital's AIDS ward, forbids him to undertake the strenuous role of Hamlet, which would severely threaten his already tenuous health. Charleson, however, is determined to seize this last opportunity for meaningfulness, and Eyre hires him as Day-Lewis's replacement, fully aware of his health issues.
Derek Jarman, Charleson's early director in the anarcho-punk film Jubilee (1978), argues with him about being a closeted gay man in show business. Jarman is openly gay, and openly has AIDS. The two men cannot come to any agreement on this subject.
Meanwhile, as his health and strength deteriorate, friends and loved ones rally round to support and care for Charleson on days when his weakness and illness prevent him from doing anything at all. He is forced to tell his loving parents that he is gay and has AIDS. At the hospital, he inspires fellow AIDS patients who remember him from Chariots of Fire.
Rehearsing Hamlet at the National, none of the rest of the cast know that Charleson has AIDS, though some suspect this. The show's audience do not know this either, but only see a Hamlet who is remarkably haunting and resonant.
As his declining health permits, the dying Charleson manages 24 performances of Hamlet before he is too ill to continue in the role.
Cast
Andrew Scott as Ian Charleson
Olivia Colman as Margaret Johnson, Charleson's doctor
Billie Piper as Patsy Pollock, a casting director who nurses Charleson during his last days
Sadie Soverall as Alice, Patsy Pollock's daughter
Johnny Flynn as Richard Eyre, who directs Charleson in Hamlet at the National Theatre
Luke Thompson as Georgie, a close friend of Charleson's who is dying
Monica Dolan as Linda Tolhurst, the National Theatre's longtime stage-door supervisor
Juliet Stevenson as Sylvia Syms, the actress who plays Gertrude
Joe Locke as Nicholas, a young fellow patient in the AIDS ward at the hospital
Matthew Beard as Sean Mathias, a director and Charleson's close friend and caregiver
David Dawson as Derek Jarman, an openly gay director who had directed Charleson in Jubilee, his first film role
Louis Healy as Keith Collins, Derek Jarman's longtime companion and manager
Dickie Beau as Sister Belladonna, member of the London branch of the activist drag group the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
Kadiff Kirwan as Sister Frigidity of the Nocturnal Emission, member of the activist drag group the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
Production
Development
The concept and scope of Elsinore evolved organically between producer/star Andrew Scott, director Simon Stone, and screenwriter Stephen Beresford, who are all screen and stage veterans and who shared and refined their ideas in a WhatsApp group chat called "The Charleson Chaps". They focused the story on human resilience, the LGBT community, and the experience of a visible but closeted gay actor in the 1980s. They also searched through Hamlet to find passages that most strongly connected to Charleson's story.
Scott, who had played Hamlet in 150 Olivier Award–nominated London stage performances in 2017, lost a significant amount of weight for the role of the ailing Charleson.
Beresford interviewed the still-living members of Charleson's inner circle from that time, including his best friend David Rintoul, who was cast in the film as the actor playing the Ghost of Hamlet's father.
The filmmakers structured the movie like a traditional humanist Hollywood drama from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, such as sports drama films like Rocky, including montages. They also included a good deal of humor and lightness in the script.
The title of the film refers to Elsinore and Elsinore Castle, the setting in Denmark of the play Hamlet. According to Steve Pond writing in TheWrap, the film is "named for the Danish castle where Prince Hamlet lives, but the title is deliberately evocative of the forbidding National Theatre building in London. Stone and cinematographer Mike Eley shoot the Brutalist structure in a manner befitting a monument, often as not with its stark columns looming above the characters' heads."
Casting and filming
Everyone cast in the film had either worked with Scott or had previous connections with him, or had worked with Stone or Beresford. Luke Thompson, Juliet Stevenson, and David Rintoul had all co-starred in Robert Icke's 2017 production of Hamlet, starring Scott, on the London stage, which transferred to the West End and was filmed and broadcast on BBC Two in 2018.
Nigel Havers, Charleson's co-star in Chariots of Fire (1981), and Hilton McRae, Charleson's close friend and University of Edinburgh classmate and fellow actor, have brief cameos in the film as AIDS clinic donors.
Principal photography began on 5 January 2026, in the United Kingdom, and concluded in February 2026. Post-production was completed August 26, 2026.
Release
Elsinore premiered on 4 September 2026 at the 53rd Telluride Film Festival. It will have its Canadian premiere in the Special Presentations section of the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival 12–20 September 2026. It will open the 2026 BFI London Film Festival on 7 October 2026, marking its European premiere.
Initial reports in December 2025 about the film's production stated that LD Entertainment, also a co-producer on the film, had pre-emptively acquired North American distribution rights to it. By July 2026, following interest from every major fall festival, a competitive bidding war among distributors ensued and Focus Features acquired distribution rights to the film for North and Latin America.
Elsinore is scheduled for an initial limited theatrical release in the United States beginning 20 November 2026, with expansions throughout November and December. It will be theatrically released in Italy by Lucky Red on 24 December 2026. The film will be released by StudioCanal in cinemas UK-wide on 29 January 2027.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 12 critics' reviews are positive. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Initial reviews following the film's Telluride premiere broadly and unanimously praised Scott's "role of a lifetime" performance as Charleson. The film itself was also praised as affecting and moving. Certain reviewers critiqued, to a degree, the film's direction, script, editing, or scoring.
On 3 October 2026, Scott will receive the Mill Valley Film Festival's Acting Award for his starring performance.
