Director Danny Boyle's new film Ink has premiered at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, earning a four-star rating for its depiction of the dramatic rise of British tabloid newspaper The Sun. The 116-minute drama, screened on Wednesday in Venice, was hailed as a hugely colourful, loud, and brash work that replicates the spirit of Fleet Street journalism.
The movie begins in October 1969 and chronicles the eventful first 12 months after new Australian owner Rupert Murdoch, played by Guy Pearce, hires charismatic Yorkshireman Larry Lamb, played by Jack O'Connell, as editor. Over that single year, Lamb transforms the publication from what he called "a laughing stock" into a media juggernaut that overtakes the Mirror to become Britain's best-selling daily paper.
The Venice International Film Festival, held annually in Venice, Italy, is one of the world's oldest film festivals. Boyle, an Oscar-winning British filmmaker known for directing Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting, brings his signature fast-paced editing style to the historical newsroom story.
Revolutionizing British Journalism
Adapted by screenwriter James Graham from his own stage play, Ink focuses on how Lamb and his hand-picked cabal of senior journalists forged a new style of popular press. The narrative highlights their effort to deliver every topic, including hard news, in the most entertaining manner possible.
To build his editorial formula, Lamb asked senior staff what engaged them most and how they had fun. Choosing to ignore a colleague who spent spare time translating lesser-known plays by Emile Zola, Lamb gave prominent coverage to television, football, astrology, sex, and the weather. Television had previously been treated gingerly by rival newspapers, while weather was championed as a great British preoccupation.
Fleet Street served for decades as the historic heart of Britain's national newspaper industry in London. During the late 20th century, competition among daily tabloids including The Sun, the Mirror, and the Daily Mail reshaped national media, with the Mail eventually occupying the top sales spot long held by its rivals.
Cast Performances and Newsroom Tension
The paper's early transformation was driven by Murdoch's fierce hostility toward the British establishment. However, even Murdoch is portrayed as horrified when Lamb, obsessed with circulation figures, turns his attention to Page 3 glamour models.
In performance evaluations, O'Connell is praised as "thunderously good" in his role as Lamb, while Pearce is noted as making Murdoch "a little too tentative" at times. Claire Foy delivers an "excellent" performance as women's editor Jules, a fictitious character created as an amalgam of several famous female Fleet Street journalists who holds her own in the paper's testosterone-soaked newsroom.
Foy, an Emmy Award-winning British actress known internationally for starring as Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix's drama series The Crown, appears alongside O'Connell, who gained prominence in Unbroken, and Pearce, known for his work in L.A. Confidential.
Profanity and Upcoming Release
The film features spectacularly profane dialogue, which provided Italian translation lessons for festival audiences viewing the subtitles in Venice. Ink is scheduled to open in UK cinemas on January 8.
