In the first trailer for Elsinore, Andrew Scott’s Ian Charleson has a difficult conversation with his doctor, played by Olivia Colman. She is concerned with preserving his life. He wants to know what that life can still hold.
“It’s quality that I want. It’s glory. It’s joy.”
The line belongs to the film’s portrayal of Charleson. But it introduces a real story of an actor who was seriously ill with AIDS and still wanted to do the work he loved.
Charleson, the gay Scottish actor remembered by many for Chariots of Fire, played Hamlet at London’s National Theatre in 1989. He had performed the role earlier in his career, but, as Ian McKellen later recalled, felt he had unfinished business with it.
McKellen attended Charleson’s final performance on November 13. In his tribute to his friend, he remembered a performance full of intimacy and humor, delivered despite the enormous physical effort it required. Illness had already prevented Charleson from completing every scheduled performance.
Afterward, McKellen went backstage to congratulate him. Charleson was exhausted. He would not perform again.
He died eight weeks later, in January 1990, aged 40. During those last weeks, McKellen wrote, Charleson continued discussing Hamlet and kept a copy of the script beside his bed.
That small detail says something about the place the role held in his life. The illness was real, and so was his attachment to the words, the character and the audience.
Now Scott, who is openly gay himself, is bringing Charleson’s story to the screen. Directed by Simon Stone and written by Pride screenwriter Stephen Beresford, Elsinore pairs Scott with Colman as the doctor trying to care for him.
The new trailer offers a fresh reason to revisit the film: the chance to hear Charleson’s desire for a meaningful life expressed in the performance itself.
For viewers who remember the AIDS crisis, the setting carries painful history. Charleson’s story also makes room for the pleasure of making art, sharing it and remaining connected to something that matters.
Elsinore opens in select US theaters on November 20, 2026.
📷 © 2026 Focus Features LLC.
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