Rupert Murdoch is apparently “very happy” that he’s being played by Guy Pearce in Danny Boyle’s “Ink.”
During the movie’s press conference at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, Pearce was asked along with Boyle and screenwriter James Graham if they had spoken to Murdoch about the film. Though Pearce said he hadn’t made contact with the mogul himself, he revealed that he reached out to Murdoch’s daughter, Elisabeth Murdoch.
“She did say to me, ‘Dad’s very happy that you’re playing him,'” Pearce said. “But he hadn’t seen the film at that point, so we’ll see.”
“Ink,” which opens the festival on Wednesday night and is competing for the Golden Lion, takes place in 1969 as Murdoch acquires the struggling Sun and installs Larry Lamb (Jack O’Connell) as editor with the mission of overtaking its dominant rival, the Daily Mirror.
Graham, who also wrote the Tony-winning play on which the movie is based, said that Murdoch is familiar with the story as he came to see the play twice, both on the West End and Broadway.
