Danny Boyle’s Murdoch Drama ‘Ink’ Kicks Off Venice with Standing Ovation

The 83rd Venice Film Festival launched in style on Wednesday, with the world premiere of Danny Boyle’s Ink drawing a four-minute standing ovation at the Sala Grande. Stars Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell and Claire Foy joined Boyle in the audience for the milestone screening.

At an earlier press conference, Pearce revealed he’d received word that Rupert Murdoch himself approved of him taking on the role. “I had some messaging with Elizabeth, his daughter, and she said, ‘Dad’s very happy that you are playing him,’” Pearce said, according to The Hollywood Reporter, though he noted Murdoch hadn’t yet seen the finished film.

Set in 1969, Ink follows Murdoch’s takeover of the ailing British paper The Sun and his hiring of editor Larry Lamb to transform it into a populist tabloid. O’Connell plays Lamb, with Foy starring as reporter Jules Davies.

Deadline praised the film as “sensational,” singling out Pearce and O’Connell’s performances.

Boyle told reporters he’d deliberately avoided painting Murdoch as a villain, noting the media mogul had once represented “a breath of fresh air” against a rigid British establishment, and that audience complicity mattered to the story.

Ink opens a lineup of 21 films competing for the Golden Lion, with premieres still to come from Robert Pattinson, Martin McDonagh, Lee Chang-dong, Florian Zeller and a Gaza documentary over the festival’s remaining ten days.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​