Andrew Scott – best known for his work in Fleabag, Sherlock and the James Bond film Spectre – could be about to become one of next year’s Oscars frontrunners thanks to a chilling new performance.
Viewers got their first look at Elsinore, which hits cinemas in the US next month in a new trailer released this week. The film stars Andrew as the late Scottish actor Ian Charleson, who died of AIDS-related causes in 1990 at the age of 40.
Though audiences are most likely to remember Ian Charleson from 1981’s Chariots Of Fire, among other big-screen films, Elsinore follows the actor in the last year of his life, as he’s gearing up to tackle the title role in Hamlet, in what would become his final theatrical performance.
In addition to Andrew Scott, the film stars Olivia Colman as Ian’s doctor, Margaret Johnson and Billie Piper as casting director Patsy Pollock, who cared for the late actor in his final days.
Written by Stephen Beresford and directed by Simon Stone, Elsinore had its world premiere last month at Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival, followed by a well-received showing at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Critics were quick to hail Andrew as “an emotional powerhouse” and “astonishing” in the role, with Vulture calling it his “best performance yet”, and numerous other outlets placing him on their lists of prospective contenders for next year’s Academy Awards.
For many of the Irish performer’s fans, that acclaim is long overdue. His failure to secure an Oscar nomination for his heart-wrenching turn alongside Paul Mescal in the romantic drama All Of Us Strangers was widely deemed a snub a few years ago.
If Andrew, who is gay, receives an Academy Award nomination for Elsinore, he could be on the path to making history as the first openly gay man to win an Oscar for Best Actor, as Variety has pointed out.
Following the film’s screening in Toronto, he said the opportunity to portray Ian Charleson felt “incredibly personal”, telling Variety: “It’s set in the theatre and about the representation of gay actors in the ’90s, and it’s about family.
“So many things that I really relate to.”
And while Elsinore has been touted as a tearjerker, Andrew hopes viewers will not interpret Ian Charleson’s story as a tragedy.
“The man that I play was an incredibly funny, charismatic, life-loving person, and so I think what we wanted to do is to celebrate his life,” he told Deadline this month.
“He absolutely made this decision because he wanted to live life right to the very end … the most important thing was for me to capture his spirit.”
View the Elsinore trailer below:
