Andrew Scott’s new movie Elsinore had its European premiere at the London Film Festival on Wednesday night – with the movie winning over a legion of critics.
The Fleabag star takes the lead as the actor Ian Charleson in director Simon Stone’s new film, set at a time when the late performer is shown readying himself to play Hamlet, while privately seriously ill with AIDS and nearing the end of his life.
It had already been suggested that Andrew was a strong contender for a Best Actor win at next year’s Oscars for Elsinore – and would make movie history in the process.
Following the London Film Festival screening, critics have made it clear that they think the film – which also features an impressive cast that includes Billie Piper, Bridgerton’s Luke Thompson and Academy Award-winning national treasure Olivia Colman – has pushed Andrew one step closer to the prestigious accolade.
In a five-star review, The Times noted that the London Film Festival screening had announced Elsinore “immediately” as “the year’s Oscar frontrunner”, noting that Andrew has “all but secured the Best Actor trophy”.
The Standard agreed that Andrew delivers a “performance of a lifetime”, and “one the Academy voters would need a collective bout of insanity to ignore”, while The Telegraph predicted that he will “rightly win awards for his performance”.
The Irish Times said there is “no escaping the deafening Oscar buzz” around the former Sherlock performer, who they described as “one of the great actors of our age”.
In their own write-ups, US outlet Deadline said that the “passionate homecoming screening” of Simon Stone’s film had made it an even clearer “awards season frontrunner”.
“The festival buzz seems to have already catapulted Scott into awards discussions,” they wrote, while Variety described Andrew as being at the centre of “immense awards buzz”.
Even a more critical review of Elsinore in Slash Film called Andrew’s performance “poignant” and, at times “otherworldly”.
Elsinore will hit UK cinemas in January 2027.
