Andrew Scott's Hamlet Drama
Andrew Scott Stars as Late Actor Ian Charleson in Elsinore Drama Trailer
Anonymous
Focus Features has released the first trailer for *Elsinore*, Simon Stone’s drama written by Stephen Beresford and starring Andrew Scott as Scottish actor Ian Charleson. The film follows Charleson as he prepares to play Hamlet at London’s National Theatre in 1989 while living with AIDS, drawing parallels between his illness and Hamlet’s confrontation with mortality. Olivia Colman plays Margaret Johnson, the doctor treating him; the film also recounts how Charleson took over the role after Daniel Day-Lewis left the production. Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn and others also star. After screenings at Telluride and the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the International People’s Choice Award and received strong early reviews, the film is scheduled to open in U.S. theaters on November 20, 2026, and in the U.K. on January 29, 2027.
Key Points
1
After taking over the role, Ian Charleson performed Hamlet 24 times before dying from AIDS-related complications in January 1990, aged 40.
2
The trailer opens with a doctor telling Charleson, “The people who come here want to live, Ian. You, on the other hand, only want to play Hamlet.”
3
Daniel Day-Lewis’s departure was abrupt: he stopped during a performance, walked offstage and did not return to the production.
4
Deadline’s Pete Hammond described the film as a “love letter” to Britain’s National Theatre, which he called “a sprawling monument to the power of art and artists.”
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