Venice Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday night with the splashy premiere of “Ink,” an explosive drama about the rise of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid empire. The film, which stars Jack O’Connell as The Sun editor Larry Lamb and Guy Pearce as media mogul Rupert Murdoch, was met with a nearly four-and-a-half minute ovation after the credits rolled. Festival director Alberto Barbera tried to keep up the clapping by telling the cast to move up on the stairs.
They obliged, but only for a few moments. The ovation was cut short because stars O’Connell and Claire Foy started to walk back to their seats, collect their stuff and head for the exit. Earlier, O’Connell, Pearce and Foy walked the red carpet with director Danny Boyle.
It was so hot and humid on Lido that O’Connell took off his Dunhill coat and handed it to a publicist before blotting the sweat on his face and white shirt with paper towels. Set in 1969 London, “Ink” follows a young Murdoch, who buys The Sun and transforms the struggling paper into a high-selling tabloid. O’Connell stars as “The Sun” editor Larry Lamb, Pearce portrays Murdoch, and Foy plays a fictional journalist named Jules Davies.
Of course, Murdoch became one of the most influential — and divisive — media figures in history. The 95-year-old Australian built an empire spanning television, sports and entertainment through the conglomerate Fox Corporation, which includes Fox News and Fox Sports, as well as newspapers such as Wall Street Journal and New York Post. During Wednesday morning’s press conference for “Ink,” Boyle noted the movie doesn’t “monsterize” Murdoch, which he says, “a lot of people do now.” “He represented, at the time, a breath of fresh air in what was a very rigid British society,” Boyle said.
After Venice, the streamer will bring the awards hopeful to North America for stops at Telluride and Toronto International Film Festival. Venice is opening against a politically charged backdrop, and jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal spoke to tensions surrounding the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as U.S. politics, at Wednesday morning’s press conference. She said she thinks movies are “fundamentally, unavoidably political,” adding that no subject should be off limits.
Only two films up for the Golden Lion — “Woman Unknown,” a drama by Danish-Egyptian filmmaker May El-Toukhysolely and “Naza,” a documentary co-helmed by “No Other Land” filmmakers Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham, were directed by women.
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