Venice Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday night with the splashy premiere of “Ink,” an explosive drama from director Danny Boyle 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 short-but-sweet standing ovation of nearly four-and-a-half minutes. O’Connell appeared to joke about the marathon applause with Boyle, prompting laughs from his co-stars Claire Foy and Pearce.
Set in 1969 London, “Ink” follows a young Murdoch, who buys The Sun and transforms the struggling paper into a high-selling tabloid. 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.
“Ink” marked the first Venice premiere for Boyle, the Oscar-winning director of “Slumdog Millionaire,” “127 Hours,” “Trainspotting” and “28 Days Later.” Netflix nabbed rights to the film prior to the festival, where it’s competing for the Golden Lion. After Venice, the streamer will bring the awards hopeful to North America for stops at Telluride and Toronto International Film Festival. “Ink” will debut in theaters on Dec. 11 before landing on Netflix on Jan. 8.
During Wednesday morning’s press conference for “Ink,” Boyle noted his 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. “He offered a kind of freedom with a different voice.”
Gyllenhaal also spoke about lack of female directors in this year’s competition lineup. 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.
“There’s a systemic problem,” she said. “It’s harder for women to get films financed.”
