Danny Boyle’s new film Ink, a drama about media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s early rise to power, will open the 83rd Venice Film Festival on September 2. The film will have its world premiere in the festival’s main competition, where it will compete for the Golden Lion. This marks Danny Boyle’s first film to premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Ink is set in 1969 and follows Rupert Murdoch’s acquisition of the British newspaper The Sun. The story centres on Murdoch hiring editor Larry Lamb to run the paper and turn it into a major commercial success, even if that meant embracing more sensational, populist methods to outsell its biggest rival, The Mirror. The film traces how the two men’s decisions during this period helped shape the tabloid culture that would go on to influence media around the world for decades to come.
Guy Pearce plays Rupert Murdoch. Pearce was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Brutalist and is also known for films such as Memento and L.A. Confidential. Jack O’Connell plays Larry Lamb, the editor Murdoch brought in to run The Sun. O’Connell won a BAFTA for his role in Starred Up and has more recently appeared in Sinners and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Claire Foy plays Jules Davies, an ambitious editor and colleague of Lamb’s at the paper. Foy is widely known for portraying a young Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown and has also appeared in All of Us Strangers and The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.
Ink is based on James Graham’s stage play of the same name, which first opened in London in 2017 before moving to Broadway in 2019, where it received several Tony Award nominations and won for its design work. Graham, known for works such as Dear England and Sherwood, has adapted the play into the film’s screenplay. He has said the story was written well before recent political shifts such as Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump, but that he wanted to capture the early signs of populism he saw building at the time.
Ink marks Danny Boyle’s first non-franchise feature since 2019’s Yesterday, following his work on 28 Years Later and its sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. He previously explored another influential real-life figure with 2015’s Steve Jobs, which earned multiple Academy Award nominations. The film is produced by Danny Boyle alongside Tessa Ross, his producer on the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, as well as Michael Ellenberg and Tracey Seaward. It is backed by Studiocanal, Media Res, and House Productions. Alwin H. Küchler serves as cinematographer, while Anna Marsh, Ron Halpern, Joe Naftalin, Tonia Davis, Zoe Edwards, James Graham, and Sudie Smyth are executive producers.
Speaking about the selection, Danny Boyle said it was an honour to open the festival with a story set in 1969, the same year humans first landed on the Moon. He added that Murdoch and Lamb’s creation of a new kind of tabloid, decades before social media and modern digital platforms, reshaped the media landscape in ways that are still felt today. Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera also praised the project, highlighting the collaboration between an Oscar-winning director, one of London’s leading playwrights, and three widely respected British actors.
The Venice Film Festival is the world’s oldest film festival and is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious events on the international festival circuit, alongside Cannes and Berlin. Being selected as the opening film is considered a significant honour, often signalling early awards-season potential. This year’s festival is once again being led by longtime artistic director Alberto Barbera. The full competition lineup is expected to be announced on July 23, offering a clearer picture of how Ink fits into the festival’s broader selection.
Filming for Ink began in London in October 2025, with additional scenes shot in Yorkshire, including Saltaire, Hebden Bridge, and Halifax. Studiocanal is handling the film’s worldwide sales and will also oversee its theatrical release in several territories, including the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Australia, and New Zealand, with Lucky Red distributing the film in Italy.
Ink will open the 83rd Venice Film Festival, which runs from September 2 to September 12, 2026.
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