‘Ink’ First Look: Danny Boyle Refuses to “Monsterize” Rupert Murdoch

Here’s our first look — images below — at Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” via Vanity Fair, which is set to open the Venice Film Festival next week before screening at Telluride and TIFF.

In the VF interview, Boyle admitted he was captivated by James Graham’s play when he saw it on the West End in 2017, immediately recognizing its potential as a film. Despite skepticism from studios and financiers, Boyle continued to pursue the project.

The film stars Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch and Jack O’Connell as Larry Lamb, portraying the 1969 launch of the sensationalized The Sun and its lasting impact on journalism. Boyle calls the story “so relevant” because it raises questions about “where we are now” and “the future of the truth.”

Rather than simply depicting Murdoch as a fully formed media titan, the film emphasizes the partnership—and tension—between Murdoch and the relatively obscure Lamb. Graham says, “He’s still developing and he’s still learning,” while Lamb channels “disgust, anger, resentment, passion for the news to invent something new.”

Boyle was especially drawn to Lamb, a northern outsider who shared his own sense of being an underdog. O’Connell describes Lamb as someone who helped shape modern culture while “operat[ing] very much in the dark.”

In the film, Boyle uses his trademark kinetic style to transform the stage play into a “fast-moving film,” while resisting the temptation to portray Murdoch simply as a monster. “If you monsterize, you just easily free yourself of responsibility,” Boyle says. Boyle ultimately sees Murdoch and Lamb as an “ignition point for where we are now,” arguing that their legacy can be traced through changing attitudes toward “authority,” “central governance,” and “central truth.”

Boyle is coming off the strong reviews that “28 Years Later” received in the summer of 2025, and “Ink” appears to mark a return to more awards-friendly material. Over the course of his 30-year career, he has directed such films as “Shallow Grave,” “28 Days Later,” “Trainspotting,” “127 Hours,” and “Slumdog Millionaire.”

“Ink,” which was recently acquired by Netflix, will open in select theaters on December 11 before debuting on Netflix in the U.S. and Latin America on January 8.