{"id":717678,"date":"2026-07-29T18:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T18:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/717678\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T18:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T18:02:11","slug":"andrew-scott-olivia-colmans-elsinore-to-open-london-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/717678\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Scott, Olivia Colman’s ‘Elsinore’ to Open London Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAndrew Scott<\/a> and Olivia Colman<\/a> will open this year\u2019s BFI London Film Festival<\/a> with the European premiere of their film Elsinore<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe opening night gala for the British capital\u2019s starriest festival will take place on Oct. 7, with cast members Scott, Colman, Billie Piper<\/a>, Johnny Flynn<\/a>, Luke Thompson<\/a>, Peter Mullan and Joe Locke all expected to attend. They\u2019ll be joined by Monica Dolan, Juliet Stevenson, Adeel Akhtar, Matthew Beard, David Dawson, Kadiff Kirwan, and Dickie Beau, who also star in Elsinore, from The Dig director Simon Stone.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe feature, written by BAFTA winner Stephen Beresford (Pride), is based on the life of Ian Charleson. It follows the actor\u2019s final weeks before his death from AIDS, playing Hamlet at London\u2019s National Theatre in the 1990s. Daniel Day-Lewis had abruptly pulled out mid-performance, forcing Charleson to step in and save the day. Bridgerton star Thompson described the film<\/a> to THR as \u201ca real love letter to theater.\u201d He said earlier this year: \u201cEvery time I tell the story, I get shivers.\u201d The London Film Festival screening is made especially poignant for audiences with the Royal Festival Hall just a stone\u2019s throw from the National Theatre.<\/p>\n

\n\tTHR broke the news <\/a>of Scott and Colman\u2019s Fleabag reunion on Elsinore earlier this year. The Irish actor 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tStone said the team \u201ccouldn\u2019t be prouder to present this quintessentially London film on the opening night of the BFI London Film Festival.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued about Charleson: \u201cIan Charleson had many of his greatest triumphs on the stages of the West End, at the Young Vic and of course the National, where he ended his short but dazzling career playing an unforgettable Hamlet. We are so lucky to have Andrew Scott, a London Hamlet himself, breathing delicate inspiring life into this beautiful story. I can\u2019t wait to share it with the hometown audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival artistic director, added: \u201cAnchored by Andrew Scott\u2019s astounding central performance, few films will leave a lasting imprint on audiences this year quite like Elsinore. Stephen Beresford\u2019s script offers a richly drawn world from which director Simon Stone and his exceptional ensemble of some of the U.K.\u2019s greatest talents vividly bring the story of renowned actor Ian Charleson to the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStudioCanal releases Elsinore in U.K. cinemas on Jan. 29 2027. Focus Features has acquired Elsinore for the U.S. to release in select theaters on Nov. 20 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 2026 BFI London Film Festival runs from Oct. 7-18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman will open this year\u2019s BFI London Film Festival with the European premiere of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[120002,86102,237520,10331,6491,96,718,156325,140406,44230,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-717678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-andrew-scott","tag-bfi-london-film-festival","tag-bfi-london-film-festival-2026","tag-billie-piper","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-johnny-flynn","tag-luke-thompson","tag-olivia-colman","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}