Elsinore will make you cry. It could also make history

This story originally appeared on Them.

If the trailer for Andrew Scott’s new film Elsinore is any indication, you’re going to want to bring an entire box of tissues to the theaters. But it’s what happens after the movie comes out that might really make us all weep.

Elsinore, directed by Simon Stone (The Dig) from a screenplay by Stephen Beresford (Pride), tells the true story of Scottish actor Ian Charleson, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1990, a mere eight weeks after starring in a critically acclaimed run of Hamlet at the National Theatre. In much the same way that Rock Hudson’s 1985 death drew attention to an emergent AIDS crisis in the U.S., Charleson’s passing at age 40 was a major cultural moment in the U.K., prompting widespread public memorializing from actor Ian McKellen and others.

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Much of Elsinore’s first official trailer focuses on the relationship between Charleson and British physician Margaret Johnson (Olivia Colman) as the actor attempts to complete his run while dealing with increasingly visible symptoms of the virus and the certainty of death.

“My job is the preservation of life,” Johnson insists.

“But when it comes to life,” Charleson tells her, “it’s quality that I want. It’s glory. It’s joy.”

Elsinore also seems to weigh what it means for a dying actor to play a role like Hamlet, who is himself deeply concerned with mortality. In one of the most moving snippets, which depicts Charleson rehearsing the play’s famous “Alas, poor Yorick!” scene of Hamlet holding the skull of the late jester aloft, Scott looks into the empty eye sockets of the prop before covering them and turning away in pain.

But in addition to the film itself looking absolutely superb, there’s also a meta-narrative around it that’s just as compelling: If Scott were to win Best Actor at the Oscars for the role, which seems within the realm of possibility according to early buzz, he’d be the first out gay man to take the category. That would be a culmination of a struggle fought by Charleson and indeed successive generations of gay actors, who — much like Scott himself — have had to work to be perceived as more than just their sexual orientation.

“I’ve been asked to play this part,” Charleson stresses in the trailer. “If people see me, and not the character that I play, then I’ve failed. I won’t be a victim!”

But whether Scott takes home the trophy or not, this film is already poised to be a beautiful tribute to a man who died after playing the role of a lifetime.

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