Newly unsealed court documents reveal how the world’s biggest family succession drama played out in court.<\/p>\n
“I had some messaging with Elisabeth, [Murdoch’s] daughter, and she did say to me, ‘Dad’s very happy that you’re playing him,'” Pearce told reporters at the Venice Film Festival, where Ink is the opening film.<\/p>\n
“But he hadn’t seen the film at that point, so we’ll see,” Pearce added.<\/p>\n
Hit HBO series Succession was inspired by the Murdoch family, with the ruthless and cruel patriarch Logan Roy providing a hugely unflattering portrait of the real-life billionaire.<\/p>\n
Boyle, despite his own left-wing politics, said he had not set out to make a negative film about Murdoch, now aged 95.<\/p>\n
The tycoon’s right-wing media empire is still a major political force in Britain, the United States and his native Australia, backing a string of conservative nationalist politicians and their agendas.<\/p>\n
In Ink, Boyle focuses on Murdoch’s move into Britain in the late 1960s, when he bought the struggling tabloid The Sun and transformed it into a runaway success with a daily diet of sex, sport and scandal.<\/p>\n
![\"Rupert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/d4c4bee2755bc2b7cdf5d3a5e41dba75.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Rupert Murdoch’s media outlets have long wielded significant political influence in the US, UK and Australia. (Reuters: Carlo Allegri)<\/p>\n
It is an adaptation of a play by British playwright James Graham, which ran in the West End and Broadway between 2017 and 2019.<\/p>\n
“The stage play doesn’t \u2026 monsterise Rupert Murdoch, which, of course, a lot of people do now,” Boyle said.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s because he represented at the time \u2026 a breath of fresh air in what was a very rigid British society. And he’s dealing with a lot of prejudice against him as an Australian, which I can understand,” the Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire director added.<\/p>\n
“He particularly had a loathing for the British establishment, which I personally share as well.”<\/p>\n
Ink follows the relationship between Murdoch and his first editor of The Sun, Larry Lamb, with the latter the main character in the film, Boyle told reporters.<\/p>\n
Media magnate<\/p>\n
Murdoch, his business empire and his feuds with his six children have become rich pickings for authors, screenwriters and directors.<\/p>\n
As well as Succession, the five-times married tycoon has been the subject of a spate of biographies, as well as a new Netflix documentary, Dynasty: The Murdochs which was released in March this year.<\/p>\n
The latter focused on Murdoch’s fight with his children over efforts to install his eldest son Lachlan as his chosen successor to run an empire comprising Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The Sun and publisher HarperCollins.<\/p>\n
![\"Lachlan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4a58c6c9ee8266a63c4eb647d3155903.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The Murdoch family’s internal dynamics have been the inspiration of multiple movies and TV shows. (Reuters: Peter Nicholls)<\/p>\n
That ended with a multi-billion-dollar settlement and court case that spilled some of the family’s secrets into the public domain.<\/p>\n
Murdoch has transformed tabloid newspapers, cable TV and satellite broadcasting over the last few decades while facing accusations of stoking nationalist populism across the English-speaking world.<\/p>\n
Britain’s exit from the European Union and the rise of Donald Trump are credited at least partly to Murdoch, while his media have long carried a pro-business agenda and have been sceptical about climate change.<\/p>\n
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