Danny Boyle: Film about The Sun 'doesn't shy away' from Hillsborough

Film director Danny Boyle said his new film about the rise of The Sun newspaper does not shy away from its coverage of the Hillsborough disaster.

The Oscar-winning director from Bury said the 1989 headline 'The Truth', which falsely blamed Liverpool fans for the tragedy, was "one of the darkest days in publishing history".

Boyle made the comments at a screening of Ink in Manchester ahead of the film's release next year.

The film, due to stream on Netflix next year, stars Guy Pearce as media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Jack O'Connell as editor Larry Lamb and Claire Foy as a reporter.

Despite what he described as the "disgrace of Hillsborough", Boyle said he took on the project because he saw parallels between the newspaper's rise and today's "clickbait world", adding that Fleet Street during that era was a "riveting piece of British history".

Speaking to BBC North West Tonight, Boyle said the film "doesn't shy away" from The Sun's coverage of the Hillsborough disaster.

The newspaper's front page following the 1989 tragedy carried the headline 'The Truth', which later became a symbol of the false narrative and cover-up surrounding the disaster.

Inquests in 2016 concluded the 97 victims of the disaster were unlawfully killed and that Liverpool fans did not cause the deadly crush.

"The Sun and the people who produced that headline and that coverage will never live that down, nor should they," Boyle said.

He added: "The film acknowledges that it's one of the darkest days in publishing history, along with phone hacking and the Milly Dowler case."

Boyle said the film was a "truthful depiction" of Murdoch at the start of his career and that "the traits of what eventually became the legacy are there for people to see".

Asked about The Sun, he said: "It clearly wasn't a bad newspaper. It was written by a lot of very brilliant people. It made some terrible mistakes and they're pointed out."

The BBC has approached The Sun for comment.

Boyle was speaking at HOME in Manchester, where he is a patron, as part of the London Film Festival.

It was the first time the festival had staged one of its high-profile career interviews outside London.

Boyle said he was "very proud" to take part in the event and said he hoped there would be "many more".

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