Australian actor Guy Pearce stated Rupert Murdoch is "very happy" that Pearce is portraying him in the upcoming film "Ink," which chronicles the origins of the British tabloid The Sun. Murdoch, who has not yet seen the film, reportedly enjoyed a depiction of the newspaper's printing process.
The film "Ink" offers a look into the early career of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the disruptive strategies that reshaped the British newspaper industry, with implications for modern media and discourse.
Rupert Murdoch has expressed happiness about Australian actor Guy Pearce portraying him in the upcoming film "Ink," which delves into the origins of the British tabloid The Sun. Pearce shared this sentiment, relaying a message from Murdoch's daughter, Elisabeth, during the Venice Film Festival ahead of the premiere of Danny Boyle's "Ink."
The film is set in 1969, the year Murdoch acquired the struggling newspaper and tasked Larry Lamb with making it outsell its rival, the Daily Mirror. Playwright James Graham, whose script inspired the film, mentioned that Murdoch had twice attended stage versions of the story in London and on Broadway. Graham noted that Murdoch "really enjoyed" a sequence illustrating the gritty, physical process of daily newspaper production, an interesting detail given Murdoch's later pivot to digital media.
Director Danny Boyle commented that Murdoch, at the time, represented a "breath of fresh air" in a rigid British society, facing prejudice as an Australian and holding a "loathing for the British establishment." Graham also aimed to highlight the lasting impact of The Sun's disruptive approach to journalism, contrasting its focus on engagement and entertainment with the BBC's traditional role of education and information. Graham suggested this philosophy of engagement, entertainment, and disruption is now deeply embedded in contemporary discourse through social media and AI.