Andrew Scott to Receive Desert Palm Award for Elsinore

By Tom Whitfield

Andrew Scott will receive the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor, at the Palm Springs International Film Awards on January 7, 2027, for his performance in Elsinore.

The November 9, 2026 announcement places the ceremony at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The festival runs from January 7 to 18, 2027. Kering will present the event, Entertainment Tonight and Soho House will serve as sponsors, and Cadillac will supply the official vehicle.

What does the Desert Palm award recognize?\n

Scott’s citation points to Elsinore, a Focus Features film in which he portrays actor Ian Charleson. Scott produces the film and stars alongside Olivia Colman.

Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi said: “In Elsinore, Andrew Scott delivers a moving portrayal of Ian Charleson, capturing the resilience of an actor who found triumph in the face of tragedy.”

He continued: “With vulnerability and depth, Scott brings to life a gifted performer who, while facing the end of his life, delivered the performance that would ultimately define his legacy. In recognition of Scott’s own career-defining performance, we are honored to present him with the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor.”

Set in London in 1989, the film follows Charleson as he grows dissatisfied with the roles he receives. An unexpected offer to play Hamlet at the National Theatre becomes his role of a lifetime. He prepares intensely while facing mortality on and off the stage.

The award recognizes Scott’s ability to turn Charleson’s final stage project into the emotional center of a true-life drama.

How does Scott compare with previous Desert Palm actors?\n

Scott joins a recent line of Desert Palm acting recipients, each cited for a specific performance:

• Riz Ahmed — Sound of Metal
• Adrien Brody — The Brutalist
• Leonardo DiCaprio — One Battle After Another
• Adam Driver — Marriage Story
• Colin Farrell — The Banshees of Inisherin
• Andrew Garfield — tick, tick…Boom!
• Cillian Murphy — Oppenheimer
• Gary Oldman — Darkest Hour

In the years they received the Desert Palm honor, Adrien Brody, Cillian Murphy and Gary Oldman won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Riz Ahmed, Leonardo DiCaprio, Adam Driver, Andrew Garfield and Colin Farrell received Best Actor Oscar nominations.

The lineage around Scott’s selection now includes eight named predecessors, five later Best Actor nominees and three later Best Actor winners.

What does Elsinore change in the awards race?

Elsinore premiered in September at the 53rd Telluride Film Festival. It later took its Canadian premiere in the Special Presentations section of the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the International People’s Choice Award. The film has continued to collect Audience Award wins through the season.

Scott earned a nomination for Outstanding Lead Performance at the upcoming Gotham Awards. Elsinore has become the most nominated film at the British Independent Film Awards, with 12 nominations including Best British Independent Film and Best Lead Performance.

With 12 BIFA nominations and a Gotham acting nomination, Elsinore enters January with more than the Desert Palm award in play.

Who shares the January program?

The announced 2027 honoree slate also includes:

• The Invite: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, with Norton designated for the Vanguard Award.
• La Bola Negra: directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, plus International Star Award actors Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau and Penélope Cruz.
• Martin McDonagh: Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award for Wild Horse Nine.
• Inde Navarette: Rising Star Award for Obsession.

Scott’s acting award therefore sits within a program that spans established performers, directors, international talent and rising talent.

What career record does Scott bring?

Scott is an acclaimed Irish actor whose work spans film, television and theatre.

• His recent film credits include Focus Features’ Pressure, the third installment of the Knives Out franchise, and Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, for which he received the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
• Upcoming projects include NEON’s A Place in Hell with Michelle Williams and Daisy Edgar-Jones; Netflix’s Walk the Blue Fields opposite Emily Blunt; and Justine Triet’s Fonda with Mia Goth and Allison Janney.
• In 2024, Scott earned Emmy, Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award nominations and won a Gotham Award for his leading role in Netflix’s Ripley.

He became the first performer to win Critics’ Circle lead actor awards in both film and theatre in the same year, for All of Us Strangers and Vanya, respectively.

His two Olivier Awards cover A Girl in a Car with a Man and Present Laughter. He also earned Olivier and Evening Standard Award nominations and won the Critics’ Circle Award for his performance as Hamlet at the Almeida Theatre, a production that later transferred to the West End. Other stage credits include COCK at the Royal Court and Present Laughter at the Old Vic.

His record gives the Desert Palm honor the weight of a cross-medium career, even as the citation centers on one role.

Scott enters the January 7 ceremony as the latest Desert Palm acting honoree and the star of BIFA’s most nominated film, which carries 12 nominations.