Danny Boyle On The Challenges Of Rupert Murdoch & ‘The Sun’ Film ‘Ink’: “We Had A Siege Mentality While Making It” — Contenders London

At Deadline’s Contenders London event this morning, Ink director Danny Boyle has spoken about the challenges he and his film team faced making the origin story of Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid The Sun. The filmmaker was joined on stage by writer James Graham and actor Jack O’Connell.

“We had a siege mentality while making it”, Boyle said about making the film, noting that the finance was hard to come by until Studiocanal stepped up and then partnered with Netflix on the release.

Set in 1969, the film follows how rising media tycoon Rupert Murdoch acquires UK newspaper The Sun and how his partnership with editor Larry Lamb (O’Connell) turns the paper into Britain’s most influential and at-times controversial tabloid. Boyle directs the feature from a screenplay written by Graham (Dear England), based on his Tony-nominated play Ink. O’Connell stars as The Sun newspaper editor Larry Lamb, with Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch. Claire Foy is Jules Davies.

“It was very difficult to raise the money,” in the first instance, Boyle said. “You can read into that whatever you want in terms of conspiracy theories. Why was it very difficult to raise the money for an incredibly successful stage play?”

He continued: “It was very tough. We didn’t have enough money, which was great because we had a siege mentality making it. ‘Nobody really wants us to do this, do they?’ [we thought] So we thought we would do it.”

“One of the challenges of the film”, he expanded, “which was really interesting, was to try and avoid people being too judgmental walking into it because it’s about The Sun. It’s very Marmite. And also because it’s about Murdoch, which people have a really Marmite [response to]…You’re worried about people going in, bringing that modern day judgment to it. So we tried to make the film as entertaining as possible.”

He continued: “The Sun, whatever you think about it, it ended up being the biggest selling newspaper in the world, and those four or 5 million people [behind it] weren’t stupid, and they didn’t buy it because it was a bad paper. There was something in it that spoke to them, and it’s a carousel or a slide that you’re on. You lose sight of certain things: standards. You lose sight, but you’re not aware you’re doing it at the time. We wanted to try and make that rather than feeling superior to it and judgmental of it to begin with.”

Speaking about his inspiration for writing the stage play and the movie, James Graham said: “Their [The Sun leaders] simple idea was rather than just telling people what we thought they should hear about the world and about politics, that Reithian and BBC philosophy of the news, which is to educate and entertain, they believed that we should be asking, ‘what do people want?’ That’s not an unimportant question. What do people want in their daily pleasures in their lives? Even some of the darkness in your soul that needs sating, whether that’s sex, or whatever, they came up with a model and a template for that, and the film explores the costs and the benefits of that. I think the cost is clear to this day. It’s literally the model that the internet runs on.”

Actor Jack O’Connell said that he didn’t see the original play and didn’t know who Larry Lamb was before reading the script, but was well aware of the lasting potency of The Sun.

“My grandma could talk about this guy,” he said. “My grandma still has an edition of The Sun newspaper on her kitchen table every day. She doesn’t leave the house, but there’s somehow a brand new edition of The Sun each day. I’ve tried to talk to her about it, but she’s she’s nearly 90.”

Boyle produces the Venice Film Festival opener alongside Tessa Ross (Conclave) and Michael Ellenberg (The Morning Show). Ink reunites Boyle and Ross following their collaboration on Slumdog Millionaire. Tracey Seaward (The Two Popes) also produces. Anna Marsh, Ron Halpern, Joe Naftalin, Tonia Davis, Zoe Edwards, James Graham, and Sudie Smyth are executive producers.

Studiocanal fully financed the film and will release it theatrically in Italy, the UK, France, Germany, Poland, the Benelux, Australia and NZ. Netflix is releasing the film in U.S. cinemas on December 11 before it lands on the streamer on Jan 8. StudioCanal will release the film in the UK on Jan 8.