Danny Boyle’s Rupert Murdoch Drama ‘Ink’ to Open the Venice Film Festival

The fall festival season is shaping up fast this week, with announcements imminent from Toronto and New York as well.

Danny Boyle will make his Venice Film Festival competition debut with the world premiere of “Ink” on September 2. The Italian film celebration runs through September 12. The bio-drama, about the early days of Rupert Murdoch amid the news mogul’s acquisition of The Sun, is the British director’s first non-franchise film since 2019’s “Yesterday.” He directed 2025’s “28 Years Later” and produced 2026’s “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.”

“Ink” stars Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce, and Claire Foy, and is written by Olivier Award-winning playwright and screenwriter James Graham (“Dear England”) from his own stage play. “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” star O’Connell plays The Sun editor Larry Lamb, with “The Brutalist” Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee Pearce as Rupert Murdoch, and Foy as Jules Davies. Boyle previously mounted a biographical drama to Oscar nominations with 2015’s “Steve Jobs.”

The film will open the 83rd edition of the Biennale at the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema. Not only is it Boyle’s first movie in competition at Venice, but his first to properly play on the Lido.

Boyle said in a statement, “I’ve been to the Biennale many times, but this is my baptism at the film festival — a huge honour to be in a city of such extraordinary art and opening this great festival with my new film ‘Ink.’ 1969 — the year we first walked on the moon — and the year Rupert Murdoch & 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, & Only Fans, these 2 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. A script by James Graham I felt compelled and privileged to make.”

Venice director Alberto Barbera added, “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 — enhanced by the performances of Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce, and Claire Foy, which screenwriter James Graham adapted from his own play of the same name. 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. I would like to thank StudioCanal, Media Res, and House Productions for granting us the honor of opening the Venice Film Festival with such a highly anticipated film.”

Per the festival synopsis, “Ink” is “an explosive cinematic rollercoaster about a group of visionaries and misfits who had an idea for a new kind of news — one that would give the people what they want and would change the face of the world we live in today.”

Last year’s Venice opened with Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia,” which won Toni Servillo Best Actor at the festival. Also announced so far: Ellen Burstyn and George Clooney will receive Golden Lions for lifetime achievement. The full lineup will be announced next week.

Danny Boyle produces with Tessa Ross. “Ink” reunites Boyle and Ross following their collaboration on Best Picture winner “Slumdog Millionaire.” Tracey Seaward also produces. Anna Marsh, Ron Halpern, Joe Naftalin (of StudioCanal), Tonia Davis, Zoe Edwards, James Graham, and Sudie Smyth (also of StudioCanal) are EPs.