Danny Boyle Opens Venice With 'Ink,' Tracing The Sun's 1969 Tabloid Reinvention
Updated
Updated · Deadline · Sep 2
Danny Boyle Opens Venice With 'Ink,' Tracing The Sun's 1969 Tabloid Reinvention
3 articles · Updated · Deadline · Sep 2
Summary
Boyle’s new film “Ink” premieres at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, recasting the birth of modern British tabloid culture through The Sun’s November 1969 relaunch.
Jack O’Connell plays news executive Larry Lamb as the story’s engine, while Guy Pearce portrays Rupert Murdoch and Claire Foy embodies the women who helped build the paper’s new voice.
Boyle and writer James Graham said they shifted focus from Murdoch to Lamb, arguing the little-known editor drove many of the radical changes that became a template for populist sensational news.
The film ties that newsroom revolution to today’s media ecosystem: Boyle said The Sun’s formula helped lead toward the internet, while Graham warned engagement-driven news, social media and AI have made the issue more urgent.
The Sun quickly overtook the Daily Mirror after the relaunch and later sold 4 million copies a day; “Ink” reaches U.S. theaters on Dec. 11 and Netflix in the U.S. on Jan. 8.