Hope you didn’t get sick of hearing about Hamlet last year, because Andrew Scott just arrived like lightning for his latest film, Elsinore.
Set at the end of the 1980s, the film follows Scott as actor Ian Charleson, juggling the fame he earned for Chariots of Fire with the strain of being closeted from the general public. Charleson is suddenly faced with two insurmountable feats: the chance to play Hamlet for the National Theatre (after the storied departure of Daniel Day-Lewis) and a devastating AIDS diagnosis.
In the weeks that followed, Charleson faced both challenges head-on, warned by doctors and loved ones about the risk of taking on such a physically demanding role as his body fails him. As with most genius-artist biopics we’ve seen, he stays narrowly focused on his artistic achievement and the material’s unique resonance in his days. “I’d rather die of Hamlet than AIDS,” he rebuffs.
As Charleson, Scott is an actor possessed, turning in what will be one of his major calling cards after the hot priest of Fleabag and the queer grief drama All of Us Strangers. Scott is gifted at being vulnerable onscreen, but his penchant for raw emotion is here elevated by a visceral connection to the film’s themes of mortality. It’s fiery, gravitational work fueled by an untold history of gay life hidden by the public spotlight, which naturally thrusts him to the center of an awards conversation.
The film itself isn’t quite on Scott’s level and doesn’t fully escape the whiff of a vanity project (Scott also produced it). The process of mounting the production and Charleson’s encroaching illness are recounted in a series of montages throughout that keep the audience at arm’s length rather than immersing them in Charleson’s psyche. It doesn’t escape the expected trappings and clichés of great artist biopics or other mainstream depictions of AIDS, either.
But in depicting the AIDS era, the film captures more uncommon flourishes. It’s exceedingly rare to see so much queer affection—both physical and emotional—in a film meant for such a wide audience. Ditto the film’s highlighting of how a glass closet works for a public figure like Charleson. If the film sounds like actor-y inside baseball to the masses, it still aims for bigger ideas through the lens of Charleson’s story and even Shakespeare’s text (as Hamnet did just last year).
Directed by Simon Stone with surprisingly dry humor throughout, Elsinore is ultimately about what it means to live as full a life as possible when faced with compromises and our own eventual deaths; life is not measured in time itself, but in what we make of it. This is also at the root of Scott’s work here. His recreation of Charleson’s life is a whole-bodied attempt to endure the legacy of a generation of gay legends lost.
There’s little question that the draw here is entirely on what Andrew Scott is doing in this film. Elsinore breathlessly unfolds in awe of not only Charleson’s achievement, but Scott’s, as well. Few performances this year will yield so much energy to their star or provide such an enormous platform. However, Scott faces real competition in the season ahead.
As always, there are veteran actors in the hunt for career recognition, including Scott’s current presumed biggest competition: Wild Horse Nine’s resurgent John Malkovich. The actor has not been nominated since 1993’s In the Line of Fire and has already earned career-best reviews for Martin McDonagh’s new crime caper and won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.
Another under-recognized legend: John Turturro has never been nominated (shocking, but true), and this year’s Sundance drama The Only Living Pickpocket in New York could change that.
From films already devoured by audiences, there is Matt Damon giving one of his best performances in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (which is already on the path towards winning a haul of trophies). Ryan Gosling’s lovable comedic work in early 2026 hit Project Hail Mary is another, though the lightness of the performance could nudge him out in favor of heavier fare like Scott’s work.
Both Damon and Gosling’s films are also comfortably in the Best Picture race, an asset to both of their chances that Elsinore will likely struggle to achieve.
Other names that could surprise as the season continues include Adam Driver (Paper Tiger), Mahershala Ali (Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother), Anthony Ippolito (he plays Rocky in I Play Rocky), Pedro Pascal (Behemoth!), and Sebastian Stan (Fjord, sadly no exclamation point).
But one who could really break out is La Bola Negra’s Guitarricadelafuente—having written an original song for the film, he could also be the fifth performer in a decade to earn acting and Original Song nominations for the same film.
Beyond the strength of the performance, Scott has a compelling narrative in his corner, bolstered by the film’s own gay history. Incredibly, he would be the first out actor to win the prize. Plus, Charleson himself starred in the Best Picture winner Chariots, and the Academy loves recognizing its own history.
With the sting of not being nominated for Strangers still lingering, his time may be now.
