How Designers Recreated the Sun's Newsroom for "Ink" Using Working Linotype Machines, Functional Rotary Phones and Vintage Typewriters
Danny Boyle's latest film "Ink" depicts Rupert Murdoch's rise on London's Fleet Street and his takeover of The Sun newspaper. The film premieres at the London Film Festival, opens in select cinemas on December 11, and arrives on Netflix in the United States and Latin America on January 8. "Ink" is based on […]
Danny Boyle's latest film 'Ink' shows Rupert Murdoch's rise to London's Fleet Street and his takeover of the Sun newspaper.
The film will premiere at the London Film Festival and will be released in select cinemas on December 11th, and on Netflix in the US and Latin America on January 8th.
"Ink" is based on the play of the same name by Tony-nominated James Graham, who adapted his work for the screen. Guy Pearce stars as a 30-year-old Rupert Murdoch, and Jack O'Connell stars as the editor, Larry Lamb, the working-class newspaper journalist who helped rebuild The Sun into a populist juggernaut. Related stories "The Boss Simpsons" season one guest stars Emma Thompson and Colin Jost. 'Treehouse of Horror' spoilers; Jack in the Box Easter egg and video update
Set in London in 1969, Boyle used his production designers, Gareth Pugh and Carson McCall, to bring his vision to life. Boyle's summary was simple. "He said he wanted to reset the expectations of a period film," explains McCall. "We took that to mean he wanted to recreate 1969, but in a way that felt immediate and compelling." They looked back at how The Sun was one of the main places to find clickbait style headlines. Popular in Variety
Fleet Street looks very different today than it did in 1969. "There's not much of Fleet Street anymore," says Pugh.
The Sun's headquarters in 1969 were originally located on Bouverie Street, with the printing press in the basement of the offices. Now modern buildings stand in their place. "We faced some challenges when trying to rebuild the newsroom," says Pugh.
They eventually found a space in Bromley, UK, that they could convert for filming. He explains: “It was vacated by the local council, and the mix of different architectural styles made it ideal for housing different sets, especially the newsroom.
The newsroom was a big deal for Pugh, and McCool describes it as the "nerve center" of the film.
Boyle referred to space as a spaceship. "That's where we spend most of our time in the script," Pugh notes.
"The layout was key to making the atmosphere real," adds McCall. "In the newsroom, especially in that era, there was a day-to-day routing system—from morning until copy deadline at night—that became a frenzy of activity and human traffic." He explains that they worked with consultants who had experience on Fleet Street in 1969 to map out the newsroom and design the flow with the actors. "It was amazing to see how it resembles an ecosystem," says McCall.
The set had to balance scope and scale with the film's low budget, which forced the team to be both creative and resourceful. "Danny gives us a lot of latitude when we're designing the set," says McCall.
The couple had recently quit smoking, but they wanted to add an extra layer of credibility. "We were smoking like two packs of cigarettes, so it smelled like cigarette smoke," says McCall.
In addition, they found old rotary telephones, typewriters and other devices that drowned the actors and the film in that era.
One of the challenges was finding the Linotype machines that Sun relied on for its typesetting. "They're priceless. There are very few left in the world," says McCall.
Ben Barrington Groves, the film's set decorator, came to the rescue. "He found someone who was very interested in hot metal printing and convinced them to come on this trip with us," McCall says. The team eventually secured three fully functional Linotype machines.
Larry Lamb's office was designed to reflect his story arc. McCall explains: "The newsroom was meant to look tired—functional, but reflective of a struggling newspaper. In the midst of the chaos, Larry needed his own space, and as the film progressed, he needed to feel increasingly isolated. We wanted the audience to see him through the latticed glass windows, only in the final scenes, when he's on the phone, showing the newsroom with Hugh. His desire arrived, he found himself alone.
The team also worked closely with set designer Alice Davies, whose input was invaluable. When I walked into Larry's office one day, he was fierce, recalls Cole, whose setup was almost perfect.
Their care and attention to detail was such that they found a way to make Larry's phone work. "You can take that and get the sales numbers," says McCool.
In one sequence, Rupert Murdoch rides a tube. Like everything else, the London Underground had been modernized since then. So, the train sequence presented its own challenges. "There's only one train of the right era near Watford," explains Pugh. "It's part of a museum, so the idea of a film crew at first made the curators nervous."
When it couldn't be used the way they wanted, they got creative. "We used high-powered wind machines and flying newspapers to create an extravagant environment while taking care of the artifacts," says Pugh.
The scene was brought to life by lighting designer Steve Mackie, who used fast-moving strip lights. "He was able to bring the light down the entire length of the train and make it look like it's going a million miles an hour," says Pugh.
"There was something very punk and DIY," adds McCool. During preparation, we experimented with different setups – running cameras in corridors and making fake tube windows to get the right look. Danny brought in a 360-degree camera in "Ink" and used it for certain sequences, including Muriel's original kidnapping. It felt brave and dangerous, but it worked."