SHOW BIZ

VENICE, Italy — “My actual personality is not very friendly, I’m afraid,” claims Korean actor Jeon Do-yeon. “Myself and actor Sul Kyung-gu, we can be a little bit brusque. We don’t really have the talent to make the set fun.”

As she says it, though, Jeon and co-star Cho Yeo-jeong are laughing — making the assertion rather harder to believe when it arrives in English from Korean via an interpreter. Throughout our conversation, in fact, the pair chuckles, nods along to each other’s answers, interjects sounds of assent. Enough for me to understand that their chemistry comes naturally, whatever Jeon’s protestations.

“In the film I play a character that chases [Jeon’s character] and it really suited me, almost to the point where I didn’t really need to try and act this role,” as Cho puts it. “I was almost like a sunflower, constantly facing and chasing actor Jeon.”

The actors needed every ounce of the sublime chemistry they forged to portray the magnetic but fatally flawed relationship at the heart of auteur Lee Chang-dong’s first film in eight years, “Possible Love,” which premiered Sunday at the Venice Film Festival. South Korea’s international feature submission for the 2027 Oscars, the Netflix film sees Ye-ji (Cho), a documentarian married to a wealthy businessman (Zo In-sung), cozy up to Mi-ok (Jeon), whose husband (Sul) has been seriously injured in a brutal crackdown on striking factory workers, in order to secure an interview with him — only for divisions of class and professional ambition to expose the fault lines in their relationship, and in turn their marriages.

“It seems like they want to be friends with each other, but then there seems to be a line that just cannot be crossed between them,” says Lee, also through an interpreter, of the actors’ accomplished double act, referring to a scene in which Ye-ji bristles at Mi-ok’s suggestion that her high-end clothes are out of place interviewing unemployed laborers. “[Jeon and Cho] knew of that and they went into shooting that scene knowing that it was quite challenging to express. There were, of course, some things that were up to the camera in bringing that about, but I think that was a scene where the two were able to express just how nuanced and quite strange the relationship can be.”

The film itself is just as slippery and multi-layered, down to Lee’s heady admixture of documentary and dramatic aesthetics. Inspired by real-life labor conflict in South Korea, “Possible Love” uses Ye-ji’s nonfiction study of laid-off workers as a window into the lives of ordinary people swept up in large-scale social change, against the backdrop of which the two women’s competing priorities are thrown into stark relief. Can a filmmaker who totes a $4,000 Lora Piana backpack, however well-intentioned, truly understand the plight of the working class? Is a subject eager to publicize a political struggle prepared for the risk that her personal privacy will be invaded in the process?

To choreograph the film within the film — so compelling that I almost missed seeing its conclusion when “Possible Love” shifts the focus to interpersonal fireworks in the third hour — Lee cast a real-life documentary director and cinematographer as Ye-ji’s crew, lending what Cho calls their “natural energy” to the movements of the camera. Cho herself prepared by consulting the late master of the form, Frederick Wiseman, who was unabashed about the tension between documentary filmaking’s often radical politics and the privilege required to turn it into a profession.

“[Wiseman] was posed the question by some students studying film and documentary: ‘How can I pursue this work in reality?’” she recalls. “And he replied with the immortal words, ‘Marry a rich man.’ And you know, I was preparing for the role of Ye-ji, so it was such an apt response for her situation.”

Jeon, left, and Cho in “Possible Love.”

(Joo Jae-bum/Netflix)

The potential for conflict bursts into the open at a seaside home that has been in Ye-ji’s husband’s family for years, where the group has decamped for a supposedly restorative holiday. Reminded of the setting by the location of our conversation — a set of green-curtained, pink-carpeted suites at the Hotel Excelsior, overlooking the northern shores of the Adriatic — I ask the actors what’s going through their characters’ minds when Mi-ok and Ye-ji’s promising connection ultimately severs.

Mi-ok “doesn’t really want to reveal to anyone else what’s going on in the family … She only wants to show the good side that they are trying to live their best life and trying to improve and move forward with hopefulness,” Jeon says, citing an early scene in which Mi-ok asks the crew not to film her son’s awkward taekwondo at a school field day. When the camera’s prying eye becomes more intrusive, though, she “feels a great sense of betrayal, that her family is being used and exploited.”

For Cho, who says Ye-ji is “constantly balancing the ethical dilemma” between documenting the truth and treating her subjects with care, the break was always inevitable, and no amount of Ye-ji’s remorse or guilt can repair the damage.

Against this microcosm of the class war Lee sets the emergence of artificial intelligence, which threatens to further destabilize labor across a range of industries — including his own. Although he’s uncertain if, when or how AI will “intrude” on the “entirely creative” filmmaking process, the “Poetry” and “Burning” director is already using it for everyday tasks.

“Before going to see the doctor, I like to ask AI all the symptoms that I have, ask what’s wrong with me. Or I would ask, you know, ‘What’s the weather like in Venice?’” he says. “AI gives us instant answers, and it goes even beyond that to where it gives you advice these days. And in that sense, AI has indeed really gotten deeply intertwined in my daily life.”

Similarly, Jeon is open to using AI for more “trivial” matters, such as simultaneous translation from English to Korean and vice versa. But she admits to more “extreme thoughts” than Lee about the technology’s role in the future of screen acting.

“I’m going to be starring in a [Korean-language adaptation] of Anton Chekov’s “The Cherry Orchard” upcoming in New York. And I was wondering, actually, is the stage the last place that cannot be conquered by AI, and will not be replaced by AI?”

Perhaps. But the scene in “Possible Love” that best captures the finely honed chemistry of its female leads, in which Mi-ok and Ye-ji drunkenly bond over soju and Korean barbecue as their bemused husbands look on, seems to me beyond the capabilities of AI — it’s too warm, too meticulously rendered to be anything other than fully human, the sort of acting one hopes the Venice jury will remember when it hands out the Volpi Cup for best actress on Saturday.

“It is quite difficult technically and practically — it was a scene that we shot all night long,” Cho says. “But I remember shooting it with a lot of pleasure.”

No protest there.

Many true crime fans said it was a ‘wild’ watch as they tune in for the first time

An “insane” true crime documentary available to stream online is guaranteed to have your jaw on the floor.

There is an abundance of documentaries and films to watch on Netflix, but there is one particular watch that viewers say did not get “enough recognition” when it was first released.

Premiering in 2019, Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator examines the dramatic rise and fall of the controversial founder of hot yoga, Bikram Choudhury.

Directed by Academy Award winner Eva Orner (Taxi to the Dark Side), the film details how the controversial founder built a global fitness empire before it collapsed following numerous sexual abuse allegations.

An official synopsis on Netflix reads: “Arriving in Beverly Hills from Calcutta, India in the early 1970s, Choudhury quickly cultivated a celebrity following and built a global fitness empire that furnished him with extreme wealth.

“But by the 2010s, as numerous sexual abuse allegations emerged and stories of his aggressive, cult-like training environment surfaced, the lawsuits started to mount and Choudhury’s unorthodox teaching style became front-page news.”

It later adds: “BIKRAM: YOGI, GURU, PREDATOR, a Netflix original documentary, shines a light on the stories of the women who took him down and explores the contradiction of how this healing discipline could simultaneously help and hurt so many.”

Recently, one true crime reviewer took to social media having recently watched the documentary film, as they branded it an “insane” watch.

Sharing a video explaining the synopsis of the documentary, they wrote: “This true crime documentary will have your jaw on the ground.”

In the clip, they added: “This insane true crime documentary didn’t get enough recognition when it first came out.” One person replied: “Ohhh I loved this one crazzzyyyy”, as another commented: “Yes this was WILD!!!!”

A third added: “There’s a podcast about this too. Very strange, weird story.” A fourth wrote: “Oh yea this was a good one lol.”A fifth said: “That was a b***** crazy doc!! Too cray cray!!” Another stated: “I saw this already and I screamed at that ***!!! Absolutely insane!!”

Over on IMDb, one reviewer previously said: “The documentary was impeccably put together and a must watch for any yogi.”

Another wrote: “‘Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator’ is an exceptionally well made and well constructed documentary. It’s also one that, by the end, will probably also make you very angry for a variety of reasons.”

Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator can be streamed on Netflix

The Gentleman actress Jasmine Blackborow appeared on Sunday Brunch to promote the second season and conversation quickly turned to her co-star Maya Jama

One of Maya Jama’s The Gentleman co-star’s has revealed what the Love Island host was really like behind the scenes.

The presenter has has made her major scripted acting debut in the second series of Guy Ritchie’s comedy-drama Netflix’s The Gentleman as Aisha, a gangster’s moll and the wife of Prince Amir bin Abdullah al-Hadidi (Amra Mallassi).

She makes appearances during key moments of the season, notably featured in Episode 1 and Episode 4 and it has been reported that Maya will return for season three.

Actress Jasmine Blackborow, who plays Lady Charlotte “Charly” Horniman, the younger sister of the protagonist Eddie Horniman in The Gentleman, appeared on Sunday Brunch on September 6 so promote the show.

Conversation turned to Maya joining the cast with hosts Simon Rimmer and Tim Lovejoy keen to find out what the Celebrity Traitors was like when the cameras stopped rolling.

Jasmine said: “She was absolutely gorgeous on set and she was nervous because she’s not done this before. She was there running her lines again and again and when she did it she was just such a pro.”

Maya, who has been the host of Love Island since 2023, previously opened up about joining cast of the hit Netflix series and say director Guy made her feel comfortable while filming.

Speaking to Variety, she said: “He’s really kind and nice. He doesn’t feel as intimidating as you’d think, being who he is. He’s very personable and he would be like ‘yeah, you’re doing well’, and reassure me, which was really nice.

“He’s just really involved and kind of a genius to watch, because everyone’s practicing their lines and then he says something that’s way better than the original. You just feel like you’re in the presence of greatness.”

Hugh Bonneville and Michele Morrone are among other names joining season two of The Gentlemen, which is based on Guy’s film of the same name and explores the criminal underbelly of high society Britain.

The first series of The Gentleman premiered with an audience of 3.5 million and secured a place as one of UK’s most-watched TV shows of 2024.

The only other acting experience that 32-year-old Maya has had was in a brief cameo role for Katherine Ryan’s The Duchess on Netflix six years ago.

Speaking about the role at the time, Maya said: “I did the tiniest little cameo in a Netflix series called The Duchess” referring to her appearance as a dental nurse.

“But it was like one day filming, whereas this was my first one where I had to properly learn lines and be on set for a few days. But I was so, so excited because I loved the series.”

The Gentleman is now streaming on Netflix

Strictly stars Katya Jones, 37, and ex-husband Neil, 44, were both injured and forced to pull out of rehearsals

Rehearsals for the new Strictly series didn’t get off to the best start last week after two fan favourites were unable to take part.

Katya Jones, 37, and ex-husband Neil, 44, were both injured and forced to pull out of rehearsals, it has been reported.

It came at the worst time for the former couple, as it also meant that they missed out on a number of pre-recorded group routines.

While they both returned to dancing on Friday, the damage could have already been done as it may jeopardise their chances of being paired with a celebrity. This will be particularly devastating for Neil, who didn’t get a partner last year.

A source told The Sun: “There was a real crisis on set when both Neil and Katya were injured at the same time and there were concerns they wouldn’t be able to recover in time for the series start in two weeks.”

They added that Katya and Neil were “gutted” to miss out on the group dances as it “guarantees screen time if they don’t get a partner, which Neil often doesn’t”.

The Mirror has reached out to the BBC for comment.

It comes after Strictly released its very first trailer on Saturday introducing the new hosts with as much glitz and glamour as expected.

High-octane from the off, fans were treated to energetic performances by the pro dancers down the backstage of Elstree as glitter was thrown in the air and chandeliers rolled into shot. The infamous Glitterball also made an appearance, with judge Craig Revel Horwood attempting to smash it with a sledge hammer while co-stars Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke showed off their dance skills.

The trailer concluded by introducing its brand news hosts Johannes Radebe, Emma Willis and Josh Widdicombe, who held hands as they made their way down the brightly lit stairs. The trio are taking over from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman after they quit the BBC show last year.

As part of a huge revamp, bosses also axed long-standing professionals, Karen Hauer, Gorka Márquez, Nadiya Bychkova, Luba Mushtuk, and Michelle Tsiakkas in favour of new talent. While former Strictly contestant Ellie Taylor replaces Janette Manrara and Fleur East.

Sharing the trailer online, Strictly declared: “Let’s get this party started!”

Fans were ecstatic, flocking to the comments to share their thoughts, with one writing: “So, so excited for this to start, I literally look forward to strictly every year..” While another commented: “YES YES YES WE ARE SO BACK.”

The BBC competition kicks off with a pre-recorded show on September 19 with the star-studded line-up – including EastEnders’ Lacey Turner, Love Island winner Dani Dyer and singer Delta Goodrem – learning who they will be partnered up with.

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WHEN it comes to girl groups going solo, there can only ever be one really successful member, while the others trail behind pretending to be happy for them.

Beyoncé is the obvious example – her Destiny’s Child bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams never stood a chance. 

In terms of their UK counterparts, Cheryl led the way for Girls Aloud and – although she’s not known for her music – Victoria Beckham will always be the standout Spice Girl. 

As for Little Mix, it’s Jade Thirlwall who’s come out on top after her debut releases were met with huge critical and commercial success.  

While her bandmates Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Perrie Edwards haven’t totally flopped – all three girls landed at number three with their solo albums – 33-year-old Jade’s highs have unfortunately highlighted their lows. 

The Sun revealed last week how Perrie, 33, has split with her management company of 15 years and also parted ways with Columbia Records. 

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And Leigh-Anne, 34, has turned her attention to reality TV after a lukewarm reception to her solo music. She’ll appear on Celebrity Traitors later this year and is also set to star in an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?.

A well-placed insider told The Sun: “Perrie and Leigh are ready to come back now.

“They’ve done what they needed to do and would announce a Little Mix tour tomorrow if they could.

“It’s kind of ironic that Jade didn’t want the hiatus but she’s had the most success.

“But as much as she is, in her own words, Little Mix’s biggest fan, for Jade it’s just not the right time. She knows she’ll never get this chance again.”

Speaking of a possible Little Mix comeback, Perrie confessed recently she’s “ready and raring” while Leigh insisted she’s “a hundred per cent” behind getting back together. 

Meanwhile, Jade has been a bit more coy in terms of timings. The Angel of My Dreams hitmaker said recently: “There will be a Little Mix reunion.” 

But, suggesting her focus is elsewhere for now, she added to Capital: “It doesn’t matter how long that takes.” 

We’re told that there is nothing but love between the three girls and they are as close as ever but Perrie and Leigh know that the more successful Jade becomes the longer they’ll have to wait to be back on stage with her. 

She’s full-steam ahead with the follow up to debut solo album That’s Showbiz Baby! and has spent the last two summers performing at the likes of Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds festivals.

Our source added: “Perrie and Leigh are super proud of Jade. 

“They always knew she’d go on to do great things. They’ve each found the perfect balance as working mums but Jade doesn’t have kids so, for now at least, it’s all about her career. 

“Perrie and Leigh just hope that it won’t be too much longer before Jade can clear some space in her schedule so they can be together again.” 

It’s been a remarkable year for Bad Bunny, one of pop music’s biggest stars. After winning multiple trophies earlier this year at the Grammys, including album of the year for “Débi Tirar Más Fotos,” he can add another accolade: Emmy winner.

The Puerto Rican rapper and singer, also known as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, won his first Emmy for variety special (live) on Saturday for his historic Super Bowl halftime show. It was the first Spanish-language halftime show, a 13-minute spectacle that transformed a football field into a variety of scenes including a sugar cane field, bodega, wedding party and casita, like the one in his 2025 San Juan residency. It also featured performances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Mikael Wood, The Times’ pop music critic, called it “a busy and colorful performance that drew lines between the traditional folk forms of his native island and the throbbing reggaeton beats that have made him an icon to young people around the globe.”

Bad Bunny served as a producer on the show. It won seven Emmys overall, including for directing for a variety special and music direction.

Also honored at Saturday’s ceremony was Mariska Hargitay for her documentary “My Mom Jayne,” about her mother Jayne Mansfield, a Hollywood actor who died in a car accident when Hargitay was 3 years old. Hargitay also received an Emmy for directing the film and Tony Hardmon won for cinematography. The movie, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, had a limited theatrical run before being released on HBO in June 2025. Hargitay won an Emmy in 2006 for lead actress in a drama for playing Det. Olivia Benson in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

In an interview with The Times last year, Hargitay said, “Making this film has been so extraordinary to me and totally reframed the narrative for me,” about Mansfield and the struggles she encountered over her brief but celebrated career. The film also revealed that Hargitay’s biological father was Nelson Sardelli, a former entertainer, and not Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised her and Mansfield’s second husband.

Mariska Hargitay will host the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 14 in Los Angeles.

The first pair of Emmy ceremonies, formerly called the Creative Arts Emmys, are held over two nights, two weekends before the Primetime Emmy Awards, and honor many of the behind-the-scenes workers and craftspeople in television. An abridged version of the ceremonies will be broadcast Sept. 12 on FXX and stream on Hulu the following day.

Here is a list of winners from Saturday’s ceremony:

Variety special (live)
“The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”

Variety special (pre-recorded)
“The Muppet Show”

Documentary or nonfiction series
“Mr. Scorsese”

Documentary or nonfiction special
“My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay”

Unstructured reality program
“Love on the Spectrum”

Structured reality program
“Antiques Roadshow”

Host for a reality of reality competition program
Alan Cumming, “The Traitors”

Game show
“Jeopardy!”

Game show host
Jimmy Kimmel, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”

The complete list of winners for Saturday’s ceremony can be found at televisionacademy.com.

Michelle Keegan has reportedly quit a drama just weeks before she was set to begin filming and now a former Doctor Who star has is said to have taken over the role

Michelle Keegan has quit a drama just weeks before she was set to begin filming.

The actress, 39, is said to have been gearing to take on the part of a working class barrister in a new series that has been penned by Sherlock creator Steve Thompson, with cameras set to roll from November.

But it’s now thought that Michelle, who has to Palma, 18 months, with husband Mark Wright, has pulled out of the project in what is being called a “huge blow” for the production.

A source said: “Michelle was really keen to take on the meaty role, but the heavy filming schedule would take her away from daughter Palma for too long.

According to reports, former Doctor Who actress Jodie Whittaker has been drafted into the role instead but fans of Michelle will soon be able to see her in in Netflix drama The Woods, which is based on the Harlan Coben thriller of the same name.

Speaking to The Sun, the source added: “The hours were quite intense and the project was starting straight after her Netflix drama The Woods and she just couldn’t commit. She is dedicated to her acting career, but like all working mums has to prioritise being there for her family, juggling work, parenting and being present for Palma.”

Michelle shot to fame when in 2008 when she was cast as Tina McIntyre on Coronation Street, and stayed with the soap for seven years before making a permanent exit when the much-loved Rovers barmaid was killed off as part of a whodunnit plot. Since then, she has Michelle has become one of the most famous actresses in Britain, starring in top-rated programmes like Brassic and Ten Pound Poms.

Michelle previously starred in Fool Me Once for Netflix, which was based on Coben’s 2016 thriller, but this time round, she will play Lucy Silverfield, who helps her former partner, played by Tom Bateman. In

When the latest adaptation of The Woods was first announced, Coben said in a statement: “The Woods is a haunting and very personal story. It has everything you expect from us – twisty, turning, gasp-inducing – but at the core is a story of old love and yearning.

“Working with a cast led by Tom Bateman, Michelle Keegan, Mandeep Dhillon, Pearce Quigley, James Buckley, Tom Allen – it’s an embarrassment of riches.”

Penned by Danny Brocklehurst, the upcoming eight-part thriller begins with a mysterious disappearance 20 years ago that leaves a family devastated.

When new evidence comes to light that convinces barrister Paul ‘Cope’ Copeland (played by Bateman) his missing sister could be alive after all, he begins a relentless investigation to unearth the truth.

The Mirror has contacted Michelle’s representatives for comment

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TELLURIDE, Colo. — Do you believe in ghosts?

Andrew Scott considers the question and looks at me with a mischievous grin, retreating to a corner of the restaurant booth where we’re catching up a few hours before his new movie, “Elsinore,” the most personal film he has ever made, premieres at the Telluride Film Festival.

Scott turns over the question again. “Do I believe in ghosts?”

It feels like a reasonable thing to ask. Three years ago at Telluride, the yearning romantic fantasy “All of Us Strangers” memorably premiered, featuring Scott playing a character who worked through unresolved trauma by talking to the dead. Ghosts are elsewhere in his work, metaphorical (“Vanya”) and literal (“Hamlet”).

“If I had a gun put to my head — which you don’t have to — I would say that I don’t believe in them,” Scott says. “But the idea of the afterlife and where we will go is still really fascinating to me. Dreams and the subconscious, too. I don’t know what went on consciously in the world outside my hotel room here last night. I was perfectly content to be asleep. And I like the idea of thinking about death that way. I’ll just be asleep. It’ll be OK. It’s the undiscovered country.”

“The movie for me is about time,” says Andrew Scott. “What are you going to do with your time? Ian decided to to live and to be a light and to be around people for the glory of the theater.”

(Anthony Dickenson / Focus Features)

Dropping a line from Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy in this context feels unavoidable. In the powerfully moving “Elsinore,” Scott plays the real-life actor Ian Charleson, who, as he was secretly dying from AIDS, played Hamlet in a 1989 Royal National Theatre production, still considered one of the great performances in London theater history. Charleson was 40 at the time, known for playing Scottish Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell in “Chariots of Fire.” He died eight weeks after leaving the National Theatre stage. “Elsinore” captures that journey in all of its glories and taxing challenges.

“That he would go for treatment in the morning and then play this Olympian role is just endlessly moving,” Scott says. “I don’t know how he did it.”

With our pint glasses filled with water as we adjust to Telluride’s altitude, we try to figure it out.

Charleson playing Hamlet, scaling the Everest for actors, reminded me of David Bowie making “Blackstar” as he was dying. As an artist, you’re not often given the chance to shape the narrative of your own end.

Being offered Hamlet doesn’t happen to every actor. To take it and turn it into something generous and useful — useful is a word I love about acting, that it’s useful to people.

When people are feeling down, they can watch a movie they love.

And see themselves. That can’t be underestimated.

What’s your go-to movie?

I will always watch “Bridesmaids” when it comes on TV. Comedy is precious to me. Laughing is precious to me. I don’t see it as the antithesis of tragedy. I think they’re one and the same.

The last time we talked, around the time of “Ripley,” you wanted to put out into the universe the idea of starring in a musical or a comedy. That hasn’t happened by the strictest definition. But you seem to be saying that genre labels don’t matter.

The reason, hopefully, that “Elsinore” is moving is that we approach some of the stuff with quite a bit of lightness. The effect is tragic and there are some heavy things in it. But my job, what I prioritized, is keeping it light.

You are seen dancing to Ethel Merman’s disco album. It doesn’t get much lighter than that.

My favorite actors are the ones that are funny. I worked with Lisa Kudrow last year on “The Comeback,” and yes, of course, she’s very funny. But if you look at that performance she gives toward the end, it’s so moving. People come away from things that are labeled comedies and go, “I just laughed at that.” Or people come away from things that maybe were really sad and say, “I was just devastated by that.” I think the job is to get rid of categorizing and make it more fluid.

Like life. Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes, the bear, he eats you.

Exactly! I don’t love things that are overly serious. One of my big dreams for this film — and I do wish so much for this film because it’s so personal — is that people don’t feel like that they’re going to see something that’s depressing. I didn’t want to fetishize Ian’s death.

What do you hope audiences take away from watching it?

That they see themselves in it. You know, it doesn’t end well for any of us. The movie for me is about time. What are you going to do with your time? Ian decided to to live and to be a light and to be around people for the glory of the theater.

Speaking of time, next month you’re going to be celebrating a milestone, turning 50. Or not celebrating. I don’t know how you feel about birthdays.

I don’t love my birthday.

Any year?

My friends have said to me, “You gotta make some plans.” I love a party. Which is to say, I love other people’s parties. What I usually do is I leave it to the last minute and send texts around, saying, “I understand if you don’t want to come, but I might do this.” And then you do something small. I read something yesterday where you should go to your own parties like you’re a guest. I think that’s a very good way to to do it.

What about just being around for half a century? Is that in your head? You’re the one who just said it doesn’t end well for any of us.

I’ve definitely thought about it more. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I’ve thought, “Jesus, what?” I’m sure that’s because of my mom dying and that I’m approaching my mortality. Again, how am I going to use my time? One of the reasons I was so ferocious about getting “Elsinore” made was that I would put all of myself into this and then maybe I can chill out a bit more.

Andrew Scott in the movie “Elsinore.”

(Anthony Dickenson / Focus Features)

The personal aspects of this movie are striking. In addition to producing “Elsinore,” you yourself have played Hamlet on stage. You’re also a gay actor portraying someone who, at the time, would have torpedoed his career by coming out.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the movies and would read Premiere and Empire magazine. Around 16 or 17, I started to realize that maybe if you’re gay, you wouldn’t be invited to movies. And I wasn’t wrong in thinking that, because there weren’t many examples. So I would omit things in interviews. I wouldn’t lie, but I really understood that about Ian’s generation.

There’s a melancholy moment in the movie where he says, “I wanted to be in the movies. I didn’t scale the heights.”

What a gorgeous little dream. A young boy goes, “I want to be in the movies.” And then to have that knocked out of you bit by bit. You’re not even going to be seen for the audition. Or, “Are you being a little fruity there?”

Did people tell you not to talk about being gay?

Very well-meaning people said to me, “Just keep that [private] because you’re not obviously gay,” which I often think is such an insult to say to people. “So maybe you can get away with it.” And I was like, OK. And I did that for awhile. But it was so insidious. When audiences think of acting, they think of actors pretending, like you’re putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes. So the fact that there was this whole section of gay actors who weren’t allowed to do that is awful. I’m so grateful that I get to do that.

What do you remember about the late ’80s and early ’90s in terms of navigating the AIDS epidemic?

It makes me emotional. It was extraordinary just to to have lived through that time and to be completely abandoned by your government, who wouldn’t even say the name of the illness. When I was a young adult, that’s what I was scared of. If you go for a sexual health screening, you go, “My God, am I going to die?” I remember going into those situations, and with no cause for such concern, feeling like I’m going to be punished for expressing myself in that way, because that’s the way the world was set up.

Let’s get back to Ethel Merman.

Please! [Laughs]

There’s that stanza in “There’s No Business Like Show Business” that goes: “There’s no people like show people / They smile when they are low.” Would you say that sums up the spirit of “Elsinore” about as well as any couplet could?

Yes, it’s so much about the power of community and show people. It’s about show people and smiling and getting on with the show.

When did you first feel that power of community?

Putting on “The Wizard of Oz” in a school play when I was about 10.

What part did you play?

Guess.

Dorothy?

[Laughs] No, a friend of Dorothy. Oh, come on. One more guess.

The Cowardly Lion?

No. The Tin Man. My mom sprayed me silver, in my hair and everything. We had a probably bit of aluminum foil and I had a funnel. I loved it so much. And I remember having a really extraordinary feeling of surprise, knowing the audience was there. For such a shy boy, when I had to do the big number, “If I Only Had a Heart,” it went to another level, better than rehearsal. I suppose the little showman, the little 10-year-old silver showman, came out.