The media magnate reportedly approves of the casting, although he has not yet seen the film.
VENICE, ITALY
Guy Pearce has revealed that Rupert Murdoch is “very happy” to be portrayed by him in Ink, Danny Boyle’s new film about the transformation of the British press. Pearce shared the reaction during the Venice Film Festival, where the production premiered as the opening film of the event.
The actor clarified that the message came through Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, with whom he had exchanged correspondence. Murdoch had not watched the completed film at the time of Pearce’s remarks, meaning his reported approval concerned the casting rather than the film’s interpretation of his life or influence.
Adapted by James Graham from his acclaimed stage play, Ink follows Murdoch’s acquisition of the struggling newspaper The Sun in 1969. Jack O’Connell plays editor Larry Lamb, whom Murdoch recruited to challenge the dominant Daily Mirror by creating a faster, more provocative and commercially aggressive tabloid. Claire Foy portrays Jules Davies, a fictional character combining the experiences of several women who worked in Fleet Street journalism.
Boyle has said the film avoids reducing Murdoch to a conventional villain. Instead, it presents him initially as an Australian outsider confronting Britain’s rigid media establishment. That disruptive energy helped modernise newspaper production and expand The Sun’s readership, but it also accelerated an editorial model built around sensation, celebrity, scandal and emotional provocation.
Murdoch reportedly attended the original theatrical production several times and particularly enjoyed its recreation of traditional newspaper printing. The film nevertheless examines the darker consequences of the media system he helped construct. Its questions about concentrated ownership, commercial pressure and public appetite for sensational content extend beyond print journalism into social media, artificial intelligence and the contemporary struggle for attention.
Lo visible y lo oculto, en contexto. / The visible and the hidden, in context.