The Telluride Film Festival casts a wide net, as almost all festivals of its ilk do, but if it has had any speciality that stands out among many, it might be the well-earned tearjerker. There is as much crying at Telluride every year as there isn’t in baseball, but with the festival’s emphasis on top-line prestige fare, returning patrons look forward to going through some emotional catharsis in the mountains every Labor Day weekend. Among the 2026 lineup, probably no film got passholders any deeper in their feels than “Elsinore,” starring Andrew Scott and directed by Simon Stone.
Their remarkable film dramatizes the true-life story of a well-known British actor — Ian Charleson, of “Chariots of Fire” fame — who died at the peak of the AIDS crisis in 1990, but who spent his last months and weeks staying alive long enough to achieve the life goal of playing Hamlet at the National Theatre. There won’t be a dry eye in the house when this goes wide, as the cliche goes, but there also won’t be an untickled funny bone, given a performance by Scott that’s almost as drolly funny as it is passionate and heartrending (with no small help from writer Stephen Beresford). And there won’t be any un-warmed hearts among any viewers with a deep love for the life of the theater, since the movie serves as a love letter to stagecraft and community, on top of of most obviously being an ode to the seeming indomitability of Charleson as he bravely forestalled his final bow.
Stone’s long history as an actor before he became a premier stage director in Australia and then London — before finally moving into film — deeply informs every legit-loving moment of “Elsinore.” Variety spoke with him the day after his new film unspooled in Telluride, where he enjoyed a crowd waiting to give him and Scott yet another ovation in the lobby, some time after the credits rolled. Under his direction, Scott is an instant contender in the best actor face, and Stone may be up for some contending himself. You told the crowd at the premiere that “Elsinore” was hot off the presses.
We finished on Wednesday of last week, so it’s a week and a half old. I think we were very lucky. Focus happened to have a slot that was unoccupied in their fall slate.
And I think of course they recognized what Andrew’s doing in the movie is kind of undeniable (for awards consideration), and also that it’s a film that really resonates with audiences. I think that when you’re dealing with studios who still believe in watching movies in the theater, a film like this is like catnip. It’s specially made as an advocate for the theater-going experience.
And I think all that catapulted us into a schedule that meant that we had to go fast, because we had to get to here (Telluride). We’re releasing in November, and when we release the movie, it will have been about 10 months from when we shot it. I’m not sure of comparable stories about how quickly a film turns around, and that is a testament to the work of everyone who told that story, and how prepared Andrew was.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
