Andrew Scott, Cynthia Erivo, Jesse Eisenberg Among Star-Studded London Film Festival Screen Talk Slate
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The BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its Screen Talks lineup for 2026, with stars including Andrew Scott, Cynthia Erivo, Jesse Eisenberg and two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali set to appear in extended on-stage conversations at BFI Southbank. The sessions, in which guests discuss their careers, influences and creative processes in front of an audience, also feature John Malkovich, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Brad Bird, James Gray and Naomi Ackie, alongside Danny Boyle, whose talk will be held in Manchester as the festival's first Screen Talk staged outside London.
Scott is expected to discuss Elsinore, the festival's opening film co-starring Olivia Colman, Johnny Flynn, Billie Piper, Luke Thompson and Peter Mullan, which dramatises actor Ian Charleson's final weeks playing Hamlet at the National Theatre after Daniel Day-Lewis withdrew mid-run. Eisenberg is likely to speak about The Debut, the festival's closing film with Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, about a woman drawn into a high-stakes community theatre production. The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs from 7 to 18 October 2026, with the festival's full programme still to be announced.
- BFI London Film Festival names star-studded Screen Talks lineup for 2026
- Andrew Scott, Jesse Eisenberg among guests tied to opening and closing films
- Danny Boyle's talk marks first Screen Talk held outside London, in Manchester
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Andrew Scott, Cynthia Erivo and Jesse Eisenberg are among the actors and directors set to appear at this year's BFI London Film Festival for what are called Screen Talks: extended on-stage conversations, held at the BFI Southbank venue, in which a film figure discusses their career and current work in front of an audience. The festival, now in its 70th year, runs across eleven days in October and traditionally opens and closes with high-profile premieres.
This year those bookend films tie directly into the Screen Talks lineup. Elsinore, which opens the festival, stars Andrew Scott alongside Olivia Colman and others in a drama based on a real backstage crisis during a National Theatre production of Hamlet. The Debut, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, closes the festival and centres on a woman pulled into an amateur theatre production. Other confirmed guests include figures from both acting and directing, such as Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay and John Malkovich.
The festival is one of the UK's most prominent film events, drawing international stars and serving as a launchpad for awards-season contenders. This year also marks a change in format, with one Screen Talk, featuring director Danny Boyle, being held in Manchester rather than London for the first time.
Full account
The BFI London Film Festival has announced this year's line-up of Screen Talks, an on-stage interview strand in which leading actors and directors discuss their careers, influences and working methods before a live audience. The 2026 roster, unveiled ahead of the festival's 70th edition running from 7 to 18 October, brings together Andrew Scott, Cynthia Erivo, Jesse Eisenberg, Mahershala Ali, John Malkovich, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Brad Bird, James Gray, Naomi Ackie and Danny Boyle. Most sessions will be staged at BFI Southbank in central London, with participants expected to reflect on their body of work as well as promote current projects screening at the festival.
Andrew Scott's appearance ties in with Elsinore, which opens this year's festival. Written by BAFTA winner Stephen Beresford, the film dramatises the final weeks of actor Ian Charleson, who died of an AIDS-related illness shortly after stepping in, at short notice, to play Hamlet at the National Theatre following Daniel Day-Lewis's abrupt withdrawal mid-run. Scott takes the lead role alongside Olivia Colman, Johnny Flynn, Billie Piper, Luke Thompson and Peter Mullan. Jesse Eisenberg, meanwhile, is expected to discuss both his acting and directing work when he presents The Debut as the festival's closing film, a drama starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti about a woman drawn into an amateur theatre production under the sway of its director.
The remaining Screen Talks span a broad range of screen careers. Mahershala Ali, a two-time Oscar winner for Moonlight and Green Book, and Cynthia Erivo, whose credits include an Oscar nomination for Wicked as well as a Tony-winning Broadway turn in The Color Purple, are among those set to look back on their rise to prominence. John Malkovich will discuss decades of distinctive character work, while directors Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Brad Bird and James Gray are each expected to trace the arc of their filmmaking, from early breakthroughs to recent releases such as Gray's Cannes premiere Paper Tiger. British actress Naomi Ackie also joins the line-up.
Danny Boyle's Screen Talk will take place in Manchester rather than London, marking the first time the festival has held one of these sessions outside the capital. Organisers say further names will be added as the full festival programme is confirmed nearer the time. Coverage of the announcement varies in emphasis: one report leans on festival logistics, dates and plot detail for Elsinore and The Debut, while another gives a fuller career retrospective for each participant, including credits such as DuVernay's 13th and Origin, Bird's The Iron Giant and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and Eisenberg's path from child stage actor to Social Network star and acclaimed director of A Real Pain. The two accounts also cite different signature films for some participants — for instance Coppola's Lost in Translation versus The Virgin Suicides, and Boyle's Trainspotting versus Slumdog Millionaire — reflecting differing choices of career highlight rather than any factual disagreement.
Where outlets differ
Source 1 (Hollywood Reporter) foregrounds festival logistics — the 7–18 October 2026 dates, the Manchester Screen Talk with Danny Boyle being the first held outside London, and plot summaries of opening film Elsinore and closing film The Debut — while Source 2 gives much deeper individual career biographies for each participant.
The two sources cite different representative film credits for the same people in shorthand descriptions, e.g. Andrew Scott (Sherlock/Fleabag/Pressure vs All of Us Strangers), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation/Marie Antoinette vs The Virgin Suicides), James Gray (Ad Astra/Paper Tiger vs We Own the Night), John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich/Dangerous Liaisons vs In the Line of Fire), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight/Green Book vs Moonlight only), and Danny Boyle (Trainspotting/28 Days Later vs Slumdog Millionaire).
Only Source 1 mentions the Ian Charleson/Daniel Day-Lewis backstory behind Elsinore and the cast beyond Scott (Colman, Flynn, Piper, Thompson, Mullan) and describes The Debut's plot and co-stars (Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti).
Only Source 2 details Erivo's Tony-winning Broadway breakthrough in The Color Purple and lists an extensive filmography for figures such as DuVernay, Bird, Gray, Eisenberg and Ali that Source 1 omits or summarises much more briefly.
Source 1 explicitly frames the Manchester event as the festival's first Screen Talk held outside London; Source 2 does not mention this detail at all.