Simon Stone's Elsinore opens the 70th BFI London Film Festival with Andrew Scott

Premiere at Royal Festival Hall

The 70th BFI London Film Festival opened on Wednesday evening with the European premiere of Simon Stone's biographical drama Elsinore at the Royal Festival Hall. Written by Stephen Beresford, the film arrived in London following screenings at Telluride and Toronto. Stone attended the event alongside lead actor Andrew Scott and co-stars Olivia Colman, Billie Piper, and Johnny Flynn. Scott received a standing ovation from the audience as the credits rolled. Before the screening, Stone described the emotional atmosphere among the cast and crew during filming.

More than once various crew members had to stifle sobs and tears. It happened to me a couple of times.

The stage production of Hamlet

Set in the late 1980s under Margaret Thatcher's administration, the film chronicles Scottish actor Ian Charleson taking over the lead in Hamlet at London's National Theatre. Charleson, known for the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, stepped into the production in 1989 after Daniel Day-Lewis walked off stage during a performance. Charleson accepted the role from director Richard Eyre while privately coping with an AIDS diagnosis and Kaposi's sarcoma. Despite his deteriorating health, he completed 24 three-hour performances before leaving the stage, dying seven weeks later in 1990 at age 40. On the red carpet, Scott reflected on portraying Charleson as an openly gay actor.

I'm so grateful that I even get to play this part. I'm not sure that even 10 years ago they would've put me in a film like this, as an out gay actor.

Real-life counterparts join the stage

After the screening, BFI Festivals Director Kristy Matheson called Scott on stage to introduce the real-life figures who inspired the story alongside the actors portraying them. The group included Linda Tolhurst, the National Theatre's stage doorkeeper for 46 years, alongside Monica Dolan, dresser Ralph Mills with Paul Chahidi, director Sean Mathias with Matthew Beard, and Charleson's sister Lizzie Charleson. A standing ovation was given to Dr. Margaret Johnson, the HIV and AIDS consultant played by Colman. Scott closed the presentation by playing a disco track of Ethel Merman's There's No Business Like Show Business in Charleson's memory.

We want you to be able to remember not just Ian's death, but how extraordinarily he lived with such flair and zest and warmth and charm and passion and talent.

Programme for the 70th festival edition

The opening begins an 11-day schedule running until 18 October 2026, showcasing 251 films from 88 countries. The slate includes Luca Guadagnino's biographical comedy Artificial, starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI founder Sam Altman. Neon acquired Artificial after Amazon MGM Studios dropped the project in summer 2026. Other films in the lineup include Ava DuVernay's 14th, the Romanian-Norwegian drama Fjord, the Spanish feature Bola Negra, and Minotaur, which follows a Russian executive during the Ukraine war.