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Andrew Scott, Olivia Colman and the cast of Elsinore have officially kicked off the 2026 BFI London Film Festival, and the opener couldn’t have been more fitting.
Scott — already garnering immense awards buzz for his “shattering” performance — was joined by co-stars Colman, Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Luke Thompson, Peter Mullan and Joe Locke for the showing, and became visibly emotional on stage as he welcomed out the real-life people who inspired particular Elsinore characters, including Colman’s Professor Margaret Johnson, a pioneer of HIV/AIDS treatment in the late ’80s, as well as the National Theatre’s stage door keeper of 46 years Linda Tolhurst, and Ian Charleson’s sister, Lizzie.
Described by Thompson as “a real love letter to theater,” the film is based on the life of Ian Charleson. It follows the actor’s final weeks before his death from AIDS playing Hamlet at London’s National Theatre in the 1990s. The glitzy gala at this year’s London Film Fest was especially poignant for audiences, with the Royal Festival Hall just a stone’s throw from the NT.
“I can’t tell you how extraordinary this feels for us to be here,” began Scott — also a producer on the film — on stage. “[And] how grateful I feel to play this extraordinary person. […] It was an extraordinary honor to play this person who was so wickedly funny and joyful and talented and charming and beautiful,” he continued. “It was the honor of a lifetime.”
Following the film screening, which earned a raucous applause from attendees (and a standing ovation for its lead actor), Scott encouraged the audience to dance their way out to a song by the late Ethel Merman. “Ian did an extraordinary Ethel Merman impression,” he said. “We want you to be able to remember not just Ian, but how extraordinarily he lived — with such flair and zest and warmth and charm and passion and talent.”
Monica Dolan, Juliet Stevenson, Adeel Akhtar, Matthew Beard, David Dawson, Kadiff Kirwan, and Dickie Beau also star in Elsinore, from The Dig director Simon Stone and Pride writer Stephen Beresford.
Heartstopper alum Locke confessed to THR that his first read of the script was emotional. “I was flying home for Christmas last year and I was reading it and couldn’t stop crying,” he said on the carpet ahead of the premiere. “The flight attendant was like, ‘Are you okay?'” he laughed. “I was fully sobbing. But it’s a gorgeous piece of writing and Andrew gives the most incredible performance. I feel like Andrew is the best actor working, and it’s really nice he’s getting his recognition.”
Filmmaker Stone concurred with Locke’s assessment of Scott’s performance, also hailed by THR‘s chief film critic David Rooney in his review. “Andrew has spent most of his life on stage. He’s a stage animal,” the Aussie said to THR. “It’s rare to know someone who can be as magnetic on stage as they are on film, and [who] can really move between those two modes effortlessly, and you see him doing that in this film. It’s really exciting.”
As the National Theatre’s shadow loomed over the carpet, you couldn’t help but feel the evocativeness of the setting. “It’s amazing to have been chosen to open the London Film Festival, the story takes place 100 meters away from here,” continued Stone. “I’m that we made a not-bad film enough to be allowed to do this very quintessentially London experience. But the London theater and film community is so incredibly strong; it’s a mecca, and we’re all here tonight to celebrate this joyful tribute to why we’re all in this business.”
The artistic director of the BFI London Film Festival, Kristy Matheson, explained that the selection committee “fell so deeply in love” with Elsinore. She added: “It has such an array of incredible British talent. But I think what makes the film so wonderful is it’s really looking at what radical care can be. You have all these people in this film; they’re creating work together, they’re creating community together. So I think it’s a film that’s steeped in activism and it’s also steeped in the triumph of art. And they feel like really wonderful themes to be putting out in the world.”
THR broke the news of Scott and Colman’s Fleabag reunion on Elsinore earlier this year. The Irishman is also a producer on the film, alongside Andrea Occhipinti of Lucky Red with Gabrielle Tana of Magnolia Mae Films, Pete Shilaimon and Mickey Liddell of LD Entertainment, and Stefano Massenzi and Carolyn Marks Blackwood.
It marks the beginning of 10 star-spangled days of galas for the British capital, with films such as Artificial, Bunker, Behemoth!, Ink, Club Kid, A Long Winter, Wild Horse Nine, Ray Gunn and Paper Tiger all premiering at London Southbank’s Royal Festival Hall.
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