Danny Boyle’s ‘Ink’ to Open Venice Film Festival

Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” starring Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy, will open the 83rd Venice Film Festival, which runs Sept. 2-12. The film will world premiere in the competition section.

“Ink” is written by multi-Olivier awardwinning playwright and screenwriter James Graham (“Dear England,” “Sherwood,” “Brexit”).

Describing the film, Boyle said: “1969 – the year we first walked on the moon – and the year Rupert Murdoch and 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 and Only Fans, these two 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 chief Alberto Barbera said, “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.”

The film is produced by Studiocanal, Media Res and House Productions.

Boyle produces with Tessa Ross (“Conclave,” “The Iron Claw,” “Zone of Interest”) and Michael Ellenberg (“The Morning Show,” “Pachinko”). The film reunites Boyle and Ross following their collaboration on “Slumdog Millionaire.” Tracey Seaward (“The Two Popes,” “Philomena,” “Pistol”) also produces. Anna Marsh, Ron Halpern, Joe Naftalin of Studiocanal, Tonia Davis, Zoe Edwards, James Graham, Sudie Smyth of Studiocanal are executive producers.

Studiocanal will release “Ink” theatrically in their territories of Italy, the U.K., France, Germany, Poland, Benelux, Australia and New Zealand. It will be released in Italy by Lucky Red.