‘Few films will leave a lasting imprint on audiences this year quite like Elsinore,’ LFF director says of movie about Chariots of Fire actor
Elsinore, one of the most hotly anticipated dramas of the year, has been announced as the opening night film at this year’s London film festival. The drama, which stars Andrew Scott as actor Ian Charleson, will have its European premiere at the Southbank Centre – yards from the National Theatre, in which many of its scenes are set.
Directed by Simon Stone and written by Stephen Beresford (who reunites with Scott 12 years after Pride), the film depicts the final months in the life of the highly acclaimed actor, who reprised the role of Hamlet while terminally ill, aged 40.
Diagnosed with Aids in 1986, the actor – who had come to international fame through his roles in Chariots of Fire and Gandhi – was drafted in by Richard Eyre to take over the role of Hamlet in a 1989 production after Daniel Day-Lewis abruptly left, having seen the ghost of his father on stage.
Charleson, who concentrated on classical theatre work both before and after his film success, persuaded Eyre to let him reprise the role he had first played 15 years before, despite the director’s misgivings over his health. Both fellow cast and crew, as well as the audience, were told that Charleson’s face was swollen following a sinus operation; in fact he was suffering from septicaemia.
