Following the success of 28 Years Later, Danny Boyle is making a journalism drama based on real events. Titled Ink, the film, set in the 1960s, is based on the dramatic true events surrounding Rupert Murdoch's media empire and British newspaper editor Larry Lamb.
The narrative’s focus is Murdoch's takeover of The Sun, of which Lamb was formerly an editor. Lamb is played by Jack O' Connell ("Sinners", "Starred Up"), who leads Ink alongside Guy Pearce (as Murdoch) and Claire Foy.
StudioCanal, one of the companies producing the feature, has unveiled the first look of Connell as Lamb. House Productions, Media Res, and Decibel Films are the company’s other producing partners.
Ink has a script by James Graham, who based it on his own Tony-nominated 2017 play of the same name that dramatised, in two acts, the aforementioned events. Graham is most notably known for his writing contributions to the British shows The Crown and The Way, among other television assignments.
According to the official press release, Ink is described 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.”
The project holds much promise, given Boyle's penchant for extracting phenomenal performances from his actors. There is also the expectation that Ink will be along the lines of the conversation-heavy Steve Jobs, the biopic on the Apple legend, for which he adopted a unique, never-before-seen storytelling approach, courtesy of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.
Interestingly, Steve Jobs cinematographer Alwin H. Kuchler is part of the Ink technical crew, alongside editor Finn Oates, who has worked on Warfare, directed by Alex Garland (a frequent Boyle collaborator).