Audiences got the first glimpse at a triumphant and career-defining performance from Andrew Scott in “Elsinore” this weekend, but the Telluride player also delivers another important gift: legendary show business gossip.
Central to the plot is an infamous real-life moment in the history of the U.K. theater — when Daniel Day-Lewis stopped cold during a performance of “Hamlet,” before stalking off stage and never coming back. Ever.
“Elsinore” opens in 1989, during a production of “Hamlet” at London’s National Theater. During a fraught encounter between Hamlet and the ghost of his father, an actor freezes before exiting entirely. The incident shocks audience members and sends cast and crew into a meltdown.
“I work in a certain way, and I never really felt the need to explain it or apologize for it, but in England, they thought I was unhinged,” Day-Lewis told Time magazine in 2012. “The press goes after you, and they don’t tend to let go.”
On the ground in Telluride, we caught up with “Elsinore” producer Gabrielle Tana, who says the moment ultimately reinforces Charelson’s destiny.
“It was the dream come true. It was carpe diem, and he got an opportunity to do the thing that he always wanted to do,. Ian felt he was washed up, and all of a sudden this gift was there for him,” said Tana.
Focus Features will release “Elsinore” in theaters on Nov. 20.
