Danny Boyle’s Rupert Murdoch biopic Ink has made a forceful debut at the Venice Film Festival, where the film received a reported five-minute standing ovation and drew strong early reviews for its account of how The Sun was transformed into Britain’s most notorious popular newspaper. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/f56946c8ca96e151a824bf0a000ec871?utm_source=openai))
Guy Pearce plays Murdoch, then an ambitious Australian publisher, while Jack O’Connell stars as Larry Lamb, the Yorkshire-born editor recruited to revitalise the struggling title after Murdoch bought it in 1969.
The film opened the 83rd Venice festival and is adapted by James Graham from his own stage play. The story follows the pair as they challenge the established Fleet Street order and develop a more aggressive, entertainment-led style of journalism.
Its first trailer, released as the film premiered in Italy, offers a glimpse of Boyle’s fast, abrasive approach. Printing presses, newsroom arguments and confrontations between Murdoch and Lamb are cut together at speed, suggesting a film that treats the birth of modern tabloid culture as both a business coup and a turning point in British public life.
Ink reviews praise Danny Boyle’s energy
Several critics have responded enthusiastically to the film’s pace and visual style. Bilge Ebiri of New York Magazine described it as Boyle’s “best film in decades”, while Variety’s Guy Lodge called it “riveting” and linked the legacy of Murdoch and Lamb to the unregulated media landscape of Fox News, Facebook and contemporary social platforms.
David Rooney, writing in The Hollywood Reporter, said the film demonstrated Boyle’s ability to give “talky material pulse-pounding urgency”. Other reviews have been more reserved, questioning whether the film’s feverish style gives sufficient weight to the damage associated with the newspaper culture it depicts. ([thewrap.com](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/ink-review-rupert-murdoch-movie-guy-pearce-jack-oconnell/?utm_source=openai))
Although Pearce is the most recognisable name in the cast, O’Connell’s Larry Lamb is the driving force of the drama. The film presents him as the newsroom operator whose instincts for sex, scandal, television and celebrity helped turn an ailing newspaper into a mass-market success.
Claire Foy appears as Jules Davies, a reporter for The Sun. Davies is a fictional character created from the experiences of women who worked on Fleet Street, rather than a direct portrayal of one historical individual.
The trailer also indicates that the film will address the 1969 abduction and murder of Muriel McKay, who was mistaken for Murdoch’s wife, Anna. McKay was married to Alick McKay, Murdoch’s deputy, and two men were convicted of her kidnapping and murder in 1970.
Pearce said at a press conference in Venice that Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth had told him her father was pleased with the casting. The actor added that Murdoch had not yet seen the completed film, leaving open the question of how he will respond to Boyle’s depiction of his early rise.
Boyle has said he did not want to portray Murdoch as a straightforward monster. He argued that, in the Britain of the late 1960s, Murdoch could be seen as offering “a breath of fresh air” and “a different voice” to a rigid establishment.
Murdoch attended both the 2017 London production and the 2019 Broadway staging of Graham’s play. Graham recalled that the media proprietor revealed little about his reaction, although he appeared to enjoy a scene depicting the “dirt and the steam and the filth” involved in producing a newspaper.
Ink will be released in US cinemas on 11 December 2026 before arriving on Netflix in the United States and Latin America on 8 January 2027. It is scheduled to open in Australian cinemas on 7 January. ([netflix.com](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/ink-release-date-danny-boyle-movie?inapp=true&utm_source=openai))
