Andrew Scott playing Ian Charleson playing Hamlet is now the film to beat at the British Independent Film Awards. Elsinore picked up 12 nominations when the BIFA list dropped on Tuesday, more than any other film, including nods for Scott, Billie Piper, director Simon Stone and screenwriter Stephen Beresford.
The nominations were announced in London by BIFA-winning actors Jay Lycurgo and Posy Sterling. The winners will be named on December 6 at the Camden Roundhouse.
Image: stock photo of a theatre stage by nooooodles 1337 / Unsplash. Not from the film.
The numbers
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, Clio Barnard's film, is second with 8. Ashley Walters' directorial debut Animol has 7, and Effi O Blaenau and Queen at Sea have 6 each. The Best British Independent Film category itself is a five-way race between Effi O Blaenau, Elsinore, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, Queen at Sea and Mike Leigh's Tender Loving Care. Animol is not in it; its seven nods sit mostly in the acting and debut categories.
What Elsinore is
The film follows Ian Charleson, the Scottish actor best known for Chariots of Fire, through his final stage role: Hamlet at London's National Theatre, performed while he was ill with AIDS. He died weeks later, aged 40. Scott plays Charleson, Olivia Colman plays a pioneering HIV and AIDS doctor, and Stone (The Dig) directs. It opened the BFI London Film Festival on October 7, and Scott's performance has already prompted some Oscar talk.
It is also headed for cinemas soon. Focus Features is releasing it in select North American theaters on November 20 before expanding over Thanksgiving, and STUDIOCANAL handles the UK.
The other races
Best Lead Performance puts Scott up against Juliette Binoche (Queen at Sea), Erin Doherty (Faith), Leisa Gwenllian (Effi O Blaenau), Jonathan Jules (Florid) and Tut Nyuot (Animol). Best Director has Barnard, Stone, Leigh, Andrew Haigh (A Long Winter) and Mark Jenkin (Rose of Nevada). In Supporting Performance, Piper is joined by Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall (both Queen at Sea), Claire Foy, Sekou Diaby and Bill Pullman.
Why this one matters
BIFA celebrates films made outside the big studio system, so a 12-nomination lead is a real statement for a British independent. It is also a lead of nominations, not wins. With the field this deep, especially in the performance categories, Elsinore still has to earn the night in December. Until then, it is a film about an actor's last great role that arrives in theaters with some momentum behind it.