{"id":1039375,"date":"2026-09-02T18:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T18:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1039375\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T18:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T18:46:15","slug":"rupert-murdoch-very-happy-guy-pearce-playing-him-in-ink-actor-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1039375\/","title":{"rendered":"Rupert Murdoch ‘Very Happy’ Guy Pearce Playing Him in ‘Ink,’ Actor Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tRupert Murdoch<\/a> is apparently \u201cvery happy\u201d that he\u2019s being played by Guy Pearce<\/a> in Danny Boyle\u2019s \u201cInk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the movie\u2019s press conference at the Venice Film Festival<\/a> on Wednesday, Pearce was asked along with Boyle and screenwriter James Graham if they had spoken to Murdoch about the film. Though Pearce said he hadn\u2019t made contact with the mogul himself, he revealed that he reached out to Murdoch\u2019s daughter, Elisabeth Murdoch.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe did say to me, \u2018Dad\u2019s very happy that you\u2019re playing him,’\u201d Pearce said. \u201cBut he hadn\u2019t seen the film at that point, so we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cInk,\u201d which opens the festival on Wednesday night and is competing for the Golden Lion, takes place in 1969 as Murdoch acquires the struggling Sun and installs Larry Lamb (Jack O\u2019Connell) as editor with the mission of overtaking its dominant rival, the Daily Mirror.<\/p>\n

\n\tGraham, who also wrote the Tony-winning play on which the movie is based, said that Murdoch is familiar with the story as he came to see the play twice, both on the West End and Broadway. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI remember he was very good at sort of not really giving anything away,\u201d Graham said of Murdoch\u2019s reaction. However, he remembers him enjoying a particular sequence that showed the printing press and \u201cthe dirt and the steam and the filth that used to go into making a paper on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGraham added, \u201cI think he\u2019ll be very flattered by the casting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cInk\u201d marks Boyle\u2019s first appearance at the Venice Film Festival. The Oscar-winning director arrives on the Lido following his return to the zombie franchise he helped create with \u201c28 Years Later.\u201d His credits also include \u201cTrainspotting,\u201d \u201c127 Hours,\u201d \u201cSteve Jobs\u201d and \u201cSlumdog Millionaire,\u201d which won eight Oscars, including best picture and best director.<\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere during the press conference, Boyle pointed out that \u201cInk\u201d \u201cdoesn\u2019t monsterize Rupert Murdoch, which of course a lot of people do now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added, \u201cI think it\u2019s because he represented at the time a breath of fresh air in what was a very rigid British society \u2026 he offered a kind of freedom with a different voice, really.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tBut Murdoch and Lamb also both have a \u201cdarkness\u201d that Boyle said his film explores more than in the play. \u201cIn the stage play, the darkness is reported off stage, and yet I knew in cinema you would see it,\u201d Boyle said. \u201cAnd then you have to find an actor that can take you there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe noted that O\u2019Connell \u201chas that ability to take you into dark places with him, like Pacino in \u2018Godfather 2,’\u201d causing a surprised expression to come across O\u2019Connell\u2019s face. \u201cHe\u2019s going to hate me saying that,\u201d Boyle added with a smirk.<\/p>\n

\n\tNetflix acquired U.S. and Latin American rights to \u201cInk\u201d shortly after it was announced as Venice\u2019s opening film. Studiocanal, which produced the movie with Media Res and House Productions, is releasing it theatrically across several territories including the U.K., France, Germany and Italy.<\/p>\n

\n\tBoyle produced \u201cInk\u201d with Tessa Ross, Michael Ellenberg and Tracey Seaward. The film reunites Boyle and Ross after their collaboration on \u201cSlumdog Millionaire.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rupert Murdoch is apparently \u201cvery happy\u201d that he\u2019s being played by Guy Pearce in Danny Boyle\u2019s \u201cInk.\u201d During…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1039376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,171,111697,279000,653,67,132,68,30989],"class_list":["post-1039375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-guy-pearce","tag-jack-oconnell","tag-rupert-murdoch","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-venice-film-festival"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117202936848668493","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1039376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}