Focus Features has acquired the drama "Elsinore," a biopic of actor Ian Charleson starring Andrew Scott and Oscar winner Olivia Colman, securing rights for the United States and multiple international territories. The deal, revealed exclusively by Variety, ends a competitive bidding war among several studios for the Simon Stone-directed film and strengthens Focus's awards slate. The studio is targeting a fall release and plans a festival launch to begin the film's awards campaign, with programmers at Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York all said to be circling the title, though a premiere venue is yet to be confirmed.

Written by Stephen Beresford, "Elsinore" follows the final months of Charleson's life, when he played Hamlet at London's National Theatre while privately battling AIDS; the actor, known for playing runner Eric Liddell in "Chariots of Fire," died in January 1990 aged 40. Scott stars as Charleson and produces, with Colman playing the doctor who treated him, alongside an ensemble including Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Juliet Stevenson and Peter Mullan. The acquisition adds a theatre-world awards contender to a strong Focus year that included its highest-grossing film ever, the horror hit "Obsession," with a "Sense and Sensibility" remake, Robert Eggers' "Werwulf" and Paul Greengrass' "The Uprising" still to come.