Trump wants to rebuild Hollywood whilst Venice is being deserted by Americans. “Ink” deserves a round of applause.

Arriving in Venice for the Film Festival and reading an article in Libération recounting Donald Trump’s latest battle, announced via social media, is quite something. He has decided he is going to tackle Hollywood. Not to raze it to the ground and then set it alight in a purifying fire. To make it ‘Great Again’, as his favourite slogan goes (a catch-all phrase – even the tariffs served this purpose, as did his sights set on Greenland). He has realised – or perhaps Nathalie Hart suggested it to him – that Hollywood has been relocating its productions in recent years. To neighbouring Canada, to Britain, to Australia, and even to Hungary, where 55,000 people work in the film industry. Is that a lot or a few? A great many – a third of those working in Hollywood. By now, almost half of all film shoots are organised outside the US. 

First, Trump considered tariffs, which, as we know, rarely prove effective. Subsequently he dispatched Jon Voight – the ‘pavement man’ and Angelina Jolie’s father – to negotiate. It is notable to read about Donald Trump’s renewed love for Hollywood at a Venice Film Festival with no American directors – and there were few at the Cannes Film Festival too. This applies to Hollywood and to independent films too (Cannes suffers more; it doesn’t want Netflix films in competition, and streaming platforms are now getting their hands on everything: contributing to production costs avoids exorbitant offers once the film is finished). A love not reciprocated by the directors. So far.

Just in time for George Clooney to receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, the 2026 Venice Film Festival opened last night – following photos of Greta Scarano, co-host of the opening ceremony alongside Nicolas Maupas, who was fanning himself with a watermelon-slice fan. A political move that positions the actress on the side of the Palestinians – the only one permitted, and judging by the current climate, it will be the first of many; the first press release from ‘Venice 4 Palestine’ arrived about a month ago. They’re already in full swing. And once you’ve experienced the shitstorm, no one objects lightly anymore.

The opening slot went to Danny Boyle of ‘Trainspotting’ fame. He made his debut in 1994 with a definitive film on culture wars, or ‘wokism’, or the idea of ‘I’m not speaking to you any more, you have different views to mine; and I’ll find a way to punish you for it’. Title: ‘Small Murders Among Friends’. The Danny Boyle of 28 Days Later, a film that began as a modest British sci-fi and went on to have a couple of highly successful sequels. The Danny Boyle who also holds a special place in our hearts for a marvellous stage adaptation of Frankenstein, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating on different evenings in the roles of the scientist and the creature.

“Ink” is a film about the world of print newspapers – featuring shots of printing presses and bundles of newspapers being delivered to newsagents early in the morning. It has everything to bring a tear to the eye of the nostalgic. But as Danny Boyle is a clever director, he chooses Rupert Murdoch as the hero of this vanished world. The Australian, born in 1931, who in 1969 bought The Sun, the British tabloid which, under his leadership, began publishing photos of topless girls. The film – based on a play by James Graham – actually suggests that it was the newspaper’s editor, the young man from Yorkshire, Larry Lamb, who took the initiative. In the film, he is played by Jack O’Connell, seen in "Sinners". Rupert Murdoch is played by Guy Pearce, whilst Claire Foy plays the only female journalist in the trio that took "The Sun" to sales of three million copies. Applause, plenty of it. Even ‘woke’ members of the audience who, as soon as the lights came back on in the cinema, began voicing their ideological reservations. The record-breaking newspaper was a tabloid, at least in the eyes of those who mainly watched TV. A debate will follow. But in the meantime, we had a good time.