The 27th Newport Beach Film Festival has named Jack O'Connell its Outstanding Achievement in Acting honoree, the organization announced today. O'Connell is being recognized for his performance as Larry Lamb in Danny Boyle's Ink, which opened the 2026 Venice Film Festival in September.
Ink traces the founding years of the British tabloid The Sun. O'Connell plays Lamb, the editor who reshaped the paper under owner Rupert Murdoch's direction, building a populist formula that would dominate British print media for decades. Guy Pearce plays Murdoch. Claire Foy plays Jules Davies, a fictional composite drawn from the paper's early staff. The screenplay is by James Graham, adapted from his acclaimed 2017 stage play of the same name.
The film has earned strong notices since its Venice premiere. It holds a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes across 54 reviews and a 78 on Metacritic. Netflix holds US and Latin American streaming rights, with the film arriving in US theaters on December 11 and on Netflix on January 8, 2027. Production came from StudioCanal, Media Res, and House Productions.
O'Connell, a BAFTA Rising Star Award winner, joins a Newport Beach honors class that also includes Taraji P. Henson (Artist of Distinction), Mckenna Grace (Spotlight Award), and Sosie Bacon (Breakout Award). The festival's honors brunch is scheduled for October 18.
