Danny Boyle’s 116-Minute 'Ink' Recasts Murdoch’s 1969 Sun Takeover as Kinetic Tabloid Origin Story
Updated
Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Sep 2
Danny Boyle’s 116-Minute 'Ink' Recasts Murdoch’s 1969 Sun Takeover as Kinetic Tabloid Origin Story
3 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Sep 2
Summary
Danny Boyle’s 1-hour-56-minute Venice competition film turns James Graham’s play into a fast, music-driven account of Rupert Murdoch’s 1969 takeover of The Sun and its transformation from failing broadsheet to tabloid powerhouse.
Jack O’Connell’s Larry Lamb sits at the center of that shift, recruited by Guy Pearce’s Murdoch to relaunch the paper with scandal, sex and populist punch that helps it become Britain’s top-circulation daily within a decade.
Claire Foy’s Jules and the Muriel McKay kidnapping storyline sharpen the film’s ethical conflict, showing how aggressive coverage and Page 3-style sensationalism strain the newsroom, unions, police and Murdoch himself.
The review says Boyle’s convulsive editing, post-punk soundtrack and vivid period design give talk-heavy material urgency, even if the film stops short of a harder judgment on Murdoch’s role in the slide toward post-truth media.
Netflix releases 'Ink' on Jan. 8 after its Dec. 11 U.S. opening, with the film framing Fleet Street’s tabloid turn as a precursor to today’s clickbait and politically amplified misinformation.