Danny Boyle has said his film about the rise of The Sun newspaper “doesn’t monsterise” Rupert Murdoch.

Adapted by Dear England playwright James Graham from his 2017 stage production of the same name, Ink follows Murdoch purchasing and reinventing The Sun into a tabloid newspaper.

The film stars Guy Pearce as Murdoch and Jack O’Connell as Lamb.

During a press conference at the Venice International Film Festival, where the film will have its world premiere on Wednesday’s opening night, Boyle discussed portraying the media mogul on screen.

“We didn’t want to, and the stage play doesn’t do this either, we didn’t want to monsterise Rupert Murdoch, which of course a lot of people do now,” he said.

“I think it’s because he represented at the time a breath of fresh air in what was a very rigid British society, and he was dealing with a lot of prejudice against him as an Australian, which I can understand and empathise with.

“He particularly had a loathing for the British establishment, which I personally share as well. So, you find ways into it like that.”

He went on to say the story features “rebels” and a “changing of a rigid order” when Murdoch took on The Daily Mirror.

“He offered a kind of freedom with a different voice,” Boyle said. “It was important to us that the audience felt complicit in this story, and the journey then takes you into the darkness.”

Murdoch and Lamb turned what had been a struggling publication into the most-read daily newspaper in the UK – also introducing the idea of Page 3 glamour models.

Asked in the press conference how he thought Murdoch might respond to the portrayal of himself in the film, Graham said the businessman had seen the play twice – in the West End and then on Broadway.

“As you can imagine, it’s always an incredibly tricky balance – how do you try to get access so you can do your research, but then you also have to keep your independence and your integrity and your distance.

“He was very good at not really giving anything away, which I think is probably one of the secrets to his success over the years.”

He added that Murdoch was “charmed” by a sequence in the play portraying a hot metal press and the “dirt, steam and filth” that went into making a newspaper on a daily basis.

“We think of him as a businessman, but he also has a romance towards the news,” Graham said.

Pearce revealed he had been in contact with Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, who told him: “Dad is very happy that you are playing him.”

But Pearce added: “He hadn’t seen the film at that point… so we will see.”

O’Connell said when preparing for the role, he was “enthralled by this world and responsibility within society throughout the ages”.

The actor said he went to the British Library and saw the first editions of newspapers in Britain.

“I wasn’t interested in the implications and effects of this type of journalism – instead it was important for me to understand what happened and why it happened,” he added.

“It was wildly interesting throughout for me to understand this period, to speak to the journalists and find out how important certain values were to them. But I never really spoke to anyone about the cost of what happens when you trade that for sales and sensationalism.”

Referencing his character’s experience throughout the story, he added: “To me it was about the cost about when you forfeit those morals and standards and somebody’s privacy in order to sell a product.”

Ink has been teased by distributor Studio Canal as “an explosive cinematic rollercoaster about a group of visionaries and misfits who had an idea for a new kind of news – one that would give the people what they want and would change the face of the world we live in today”.

Ink will be released in cinemas on January 8, 2027.

Representatives of Murdoch have been contacted for comment.