Danny Boyle‘s “Ink,” starring Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy, will open the 83rd Venice Film Festival, which runs Sept. 2-12. The film will world premiere in the main competition section.
“Ink,” about the acquisition and transformation of The Sun newspaper by Rupert Murdoch, is written by multi-Olivier award-winning playwright and screenwriter James Graham (“Dear England,” “Sherwood,” “Brexit”).
O’Connell stars as The Sun editor Larry Lamb with Pearce as Murdoch, and Foy as Jules Davies.
Boyle said Graham’s script was one he “felt compelled and privileged to make.” He set the scene, as follows, “1969 – the year we first walked on the moon – and the year Rupert Murdoch and Larry Lamb launched a newspaper that was to change the world far more. Long before Fox News, click bait and Truth Social; decades before Twitter, Facebook, Google and Only Fans, these two men created a new tabloid which against all the odds became the biggest selling newspaper in the world. Cheeky, irreverent, daring: The super soaraway Sun challenged the establishment and remade our world for the modern era.”
Venice chief Alberto Barbera said, “An Oscar-winning director, one of the leading playwrights on the London theater scene, and three of the most acclaimed actors in contemporary British cinema — these are the credentials behind Danny Boyle’s film.”
He added, “It is an account of publisher Rupert Murdoch’s acquisition of the daily newspaper The Sun, which he entrusted to the unscrupulous Larry Lamb, turning it into Britain’s best-selling tabloid at the expense of its rival, The Mirror.”
The film is produced by Studiocanal, Media Res and House Productions.
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Studiocanal will release “Ink” theatrically in their territories of Italy, the U.K., France, Germany, Poland, Benelux, Australia and New Zealand. It will be released in Italy by Lucky Red.
Boyle produces with Tessa Ross (“Conclave,” “The Iron Claw,” “Zone of Interest”) and Michael Ellenberg (“The Morning Show,” “Pachinko”). The film reunites Boyle and Ross following their collaboration on “Slumdog Millionaire.” Tracey Seaward (“The Two Popes,” “Philomena,” “Pistol”) also produces. Anna Marsh, Ron Halpern, Joe Naftalin of Studiocanal, Tonia Davis, Zoe Edwards, Graham and Sudie Smyth of Studiocanal are executive producers.
Alwin H. Küchler (“Steve Jobs”) is DP, Gareth Pugh and Carson McColl (“28 Years Later”) are production and costume designers, and Fin Oates (“How to Have Sex,” “Warfare”) is the editor. Gail Stevens and Rebecca Farhall (“28 Years Later”) cast the film. Music is by Daniel Pemberton.
Boyle most recently directed “28 Years Later,” reprising his role as director following the original film, “28 Days Later.” Returning again to the franchise, Boyle next served as a producer on “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.” Boyle is also known for directing the films “Yesterday,” “Steve Jobs,” “127 Hours,” “Trainspotting” and its sequel, “T2 Trainspotting,” as well as “Slumdog Millionaire,” one of the few films in motion picture history that swept the Oscars, the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, PGA and DGA for both best picture and best director.
From Variety US