Elsinore

London, 1989, Ian Charleson (Andrew Scott), a talented and charismatic Scottish actor (he played Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire) was dissatisfied with the roles he was being offered when the chance of a lifetime comes his way: to play Hamlet at the National Theatre, stepping in for Daniel Day-Lewis who had abandoned the stage. But Charleson is fighting AIDS and the illness is consuming him. Despite the treatments and warnings from Dr. Johnson (Olivia Colman), Ian dedicates himself to the part. During rehearsals and shows, the actor transforms his fight against death into one of his greatest performances.

COMMENTARY
Elsinore tells a true story of triumph over tragedy: that of a young man who, looking death in the eyes, has the strength to choose theatre, life and the others.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Ian Charleson taught us that you can look straight into the abyss with trust. There is a kind of immortality in the act of touching another person’s life, and everyone who was sitting there in the theatre on one of those 24 famous nights at the National, as Ian shared what he had understood about life and death, is his heir. The film pays tribute to precisely that legacy, that inheritance; then came the miracle of receiving something more from Ian, something in the ether that lived on with a life of its own and found its way into Andrew Scott during the work. In short, you will find an exploration of the politics and what it meant to come out as gay in 1989, and what it means to make art.