Focus Features has acquired “Elsinore,” the Ian Charleson biopic starring Andrew Scott and Oscar winner Olivia Colman, for the U.S. and multiple international territories, Variety has learned exclusively.
The deal closes a competitive bidding war among several studios for the Simon Stone-directed drama and adds a prestige contender to the Focus slate. Eyeing a fall release, the studio is planning a festival launch to kick off the film’s awards run. Sources tell Variety that programmers at each of the fall festivals — Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York — are circling the title, though a premiere venue has yet to be set. Other sources who have seen the film have been ecstatic and overwhelmingly positive about the Scottish actor’s work.
Written by Stephen Beresford, “Elsinore” tells the story of actor Ian Charleson, best known to film audiences as Olympic runner Eric Liddell in the best picture winner “Chariots of Fire.” The film focuses on the final months of Charleson’s life, when he took on the role of “Hamlet” at London’s National Theatre while privately battling AIDS. Charleson died in January 1990 at age 40, just weeks after the run concluded.
Focus Features declined to comment.
