Andrew Scott is more than a household name: he shook us to our core in Sherlock, made us all fall in love in Fleabag and then took on the role of one of literature's most thrilling antiheroes in Netflix's Ripley. In his latest role, the 48-year-old might just be taking on one of his most grandiose, high-profile characters to date. In Richard Linklater's Blue Moon, a biographical comedy-drama about the night that the smash-hit musical Oklahoma! premieres, Andrew plays Richard Rodgers, the composer of the musical who is on the cusp of becoming a legend in his world.
However, Oklahoma! was the first musical that Rodgers wrote without Lorenz "Larry" Hart (played by Ethan Hawke), the lyricist with whom he collaborated for 24 years, and marked the beginning of his legendary partnership with Oscar Hammerstein II. With his new partner, the composer created some of America's most iconic musicals to date, including The King and I, Carousel and, arguably their most famous, The Sound of Music. But what happens to the man left behind?
© WireImage"This is a break-up movie," he told HELLO! at the headline gala screening of Blue Moon at BFI London Film Festival. "Richard [the director] describes it as a break-up movie, except it's a creative break-up," Andrew continued, "These guys wrote over 1000 songs together, so they have this incredible intimacy between them."
On the context of the film, Andrew explains: "The night that we meet them is the night that Richard Rodgers is starting a new creative relationship with Oscar Hammerstein, and the film focuses on Larry Hart, and how it might feel for him on one of the biggest nights in theatre history."
Two beginnings and an end
Richard Linklater, speaking to HELLO!, explained more about the relationship between Rodgers and Hart: "It's poignant that something's ending, that an artist is being left behind near the end of his life, it's kind of sad. Artists all think we're going to go forever, but things can happen and it can be taken away from you in some way. Times can leave you behind."
He refers to the film as a part of a thematic trilogy he told press that he informally calls "two beginnings and an end", alongside his films Me and Orson Welles and Nouvelle Vague, which is also having its UK premiere at BFI London Film Festival this weekend. In each instance, two partners' careers skyrocket, while another is left in the dust.
Blue Moon premiered in the UK during BFI London Film Festival, and will have a wide release across the country on 28 November.
