--- title: 'Rupert Murdoch’s Daughter Says He Approves Guy Pearce in ‘Ink’' type: 'blog post' section: 'Away From Set' format: 'Editorial feature' standfirst: 'Guy Pearce says Elisabeth Murdoch told him her father was “very happy” with the casting in Danny Boyle’s Venice opener. Rupert Murdoch had not seen the finished film when she passed along the message.' author: 'Dorothy Kwan' published: '2026-09-03' updated: '2026-09-03' about_people: - 'Danny Boyle' - 'Guy Pearce' tags: - 'Rupert Murdoch Ink casting reaction' - 'Guy Pearce plays Rupert Murdoch' - 'Danny Boyle Ink Venice Film Festival 2026' - 'Elisabeth Murdoch message to Guy Pearce' - 'Ink film Netflix release date' - 'Jack O’Connell Larry Lamb Ink' sources: - 'https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/rupert-murdoch-s-daughter-reveals-his-reaction-to-film-casting/ar-AA2bqk5Z' - 'https://variety.com/2026/film/festivals/rupert-murdoch-very-happy-guy-pearce-playing-him-ink-1236848762/' - 'https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/rupert-murdoch-very-happy-casting-130819298.html' canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/blog/rupert-murdochs-daughter-says-he-approves-guy-pearce-in-ink' publisher: 'CinePixo' --- # Rupert Murdoch’s Daughter Says He Approves Guy Pearce in ‘Ink’ *Guy Pearce says Elisabeth Murdoch told him her father was “very happy” with the casting in Danny Boyle’s Venice opener. Rupert Murdoch had not seen the finished film when she passed along the message.* By Dorothy Kwan, 2026-09-03 · Away From Set Guy Pearce says Rupert Murdoch is happy to see him play the media mogul in Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” though Murdoch had not watched the film when that approval arrived. Pearce shared the detail during the movie’s Venice Film Festival press conference on Sept. 2, 2026, saying he contacted Murdoch’s daughter, Elisabeth Murdoch, instead of speaking to Murdoch himself. For a film about the man who turned a struggling British tabloid into the first brick in a global media empire, the casting news lands before the verdict: the subject approves of the face, if not yet the picture. ## Elisabeth Murdoch Delivers the Casting News Pearce said Elisabeth Murdoch sent him a message: her father was “very happy” that he would play him. The actor also made the limit plain. Murdoch had not seen “Ink” at that point, so his reaction concerned the casting, not the performance or the film’s argument. That distinction matters. Publicity departments love a phrase like “very happy” because it arrives pre-approved, portable and almost content-free. Here, at least, Pearce supplied the missing wrinkle himself. Murdoch likes the choice. He has not signed off on the movie. Variety reported the exchange after Pearce, Boyle and screenwriter James Graham faced questions at Venice. The Hollywood Reporter also described Pearce’s message from Elisabeth Murdoch, spelling her name “Elizabeth” in its account. Neither report says Murdoch has endorsed the finished film. The piece does not know what he will think after watching it. ![The arrival of Guy Pearce (24944398952)](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/c27fdef9-5c27-4256-b7c5-f9a12413ed41.webp) *Photo: usbotschaftberlin · Public domain · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_arrival_of_Guy_Pearce_(24944398952).jpg)* ## Rupert Murdoch Knows the Story From Graham’s Play Murdoch is not encountering “Ink” from a distance. Graham said Murdoch saw the original stage play twice, once in London’s West End and once on Broadway. Graham remembered a man who gave little away, which is a neat description for a mogul whose public reactions have rarely needed much help from other people. Still, Graham recalled one thing Murdoch seemed to enjoy: a sequence centered on the printing press, with its steam, grime and industrial muck. The film follows Murdoch in 1969 as he buys the failing Sun and appoints Larry Lamb, played by Jack O’Connell, as editor. Their task is to overtake the Daily Mirror, then the dominant rival. The pressroom detail tells you where the film wants its romance to sit. Not in boardrooms. In noise, ink and machinery. Graham said he thought Murdoch would feel flattered by the casting. That is a prediction, not a quote from Murdoch, and it carries less weight than Pearce’s report from his daughter. ![Danny Boyle, Jodie Comer et Aaron Taylor-Johnson au MK2 Bibliothèque dans le cadre d'une projection spéciale de "28 jours plus tard", en prévision de la sortie de "28 ans plus tard", le 3 juin 2025.](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/4ff9e588-d784-4bba-bfba-e6c1e27848ec.webp) ![Guy Pearce in 2011](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/7ea71af8-f661-4416-a809-142fa1ffdabb.webp) *Photos: ManoSolo13241324 · [CC0](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Danny_Boyle,_Jodie_Comer_et_Aaron_Taylor-Johnson_2025_2.jpg); Romain Brami · [CC BY-SA 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guy_Pearce_2011.jpg)* ## Danny Boyle Rejects the Monster-Mogul Shortcut Boyle said “Ink” does not “monsterize” Murdoch. His explanation is more interesting than the slogan. In Boyle’s telling, Murdoch entered a rigid British society as a disruptive force, offering a new voice and a sense of freedom. The film wants viewers to feel some complicity in that appeal before it confronts the darkness attached to Murdoch and Lamb. That sounds like a decision with teeth. A movie about tabloid power can easily turn its subject into a pre-labeled villain, then congratulate itself for having found the correct label. Boyle says the stage play kept the darker material offstage, while cinema brings it into view. He needed an actor who could take the audience there. Boyle compared O’Connell’s ability in those darker passages to Al Pacino in “The Godfather Part II,” then watched O’Connell react with visible surprise. Boyle immediately joked that O’Connell would hate him for saying it. That is the rare press-conference moment that does not sound manufactured: one actor gets an extravagant comparison, another realizes he has just been volunteered for a legend he may not want. ![Danny Boyle, Jodie Comer et Aaron Taylor-Johnson au MK2 Bibliothèque dans le cadre d'une projection spéciale de "28 jours plus tard", en prévision de la sortie de "28 ans plus tard", le 3 juin 2025.](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/6749607a-5f08-4b10-964b-5155c1946ed2.webp) ![Guy Pearce and Claire Bloom at a ceremony for Colin Firth to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/e65e5796-e8e8-436e-bd5b-542e4c5184f4.webp) *Photos: ManoSolo13241324 · [CC0](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Danny_Boyle,_Jodie_Comer_et_Aaron_Taylor-Johnson_2025_1.jpg); Angela George at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sharongraphics/ · [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GuyPearceClaireBloomJan11.jpg)* ## ‘Ink’ Turns a 1969 Newspaper Fight Into a Modern Argument The film opens Venice in competition for the Golden Lion. Netflix acquired U.S. and Latin American rights after the festival announced it as the opening-night film. It will reach select U.S. theaters on Dec. 11, 2026, before its U.S. and Latin American Netflix release on Jan. 8, 2027. Studiocanal is handling theatrical releases in several territories, including the U.K., France, Germany and Italy, with further releases listed for Poland, Australia and New Zealand. Boyle insists the period setting points at the present. “Ink,” he said, concerns the media forces that shape the modern world, including the collapse of print and the rise of artificial intelligence. He called Murdoch a “print man” who might be driven to despair by the loss of the tactile newspaper world. Then Boyle offered the cleanest problem in the whole announcement: an AI journalist could be cheaper and more efficient, but would it speak truth to the power that created it? “Ink” has not answered that question yet. Murdoch has not even watched the film. What we have, for now, is a mogul pleased by his screen double, a daughter carrying the message, and a movie arriving with its subject’s blessing limited to the casting call. ## How this piece was made **Format:** Editorial feature ## In this piece - [Danny Boyle](https://cinepixo.com/people/danny-boyle) - [Guy Pearce](https://cinepixo.com/people/guy-pearce) ## Sources - https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/rupert-murdoch-s-daughter-reveals-his-reaction-to-film-casting/ar-AA2bqk5Z - https://variety.com/2026/film/festivals/rupert-murdoch-very-happy-guy-pearce-playing-him-ink-1236848762/ - https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/rupert-murdoch-very-happy-casting-130819298.html Every factual claim above is drawn from these. The reading of them is ours. Source: https://cinepixo.com/blog/rupert-murdochs-daughter-says-he-approves-guy-pearce-in-ink Written for CinePixo. Nothing on this page is imported prose.