Jack OConnell Braves the Venice Heat (and Gets Sweaty) in Dior Look by Jonathan Anderson

Who says men don’t suffer for fashion, too?

Jack O’Connell showed himself to be a man of extremes at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday. The veteran English actor hit the Lido for the world premiere of Ink, his new Danny Boyle film, by dressing for multiple seasons in a matter of hours, styled by Luke Day.

First, O’Connell turned up at Palazzo del Casino for an afternoon press conference and photocall alongside his Ink team — Boyle, Claire Foy, Guy Pearce and the filmmaking and Netflix teams — wearing a simple white Henley paired with black trousers.

For the evening world premiere, O’Connell stepped out of his car to hit the red carpet for the opening ceremony wearing a white tuxedo shirt and bow tie with trousers by Dior. Before stepping onto the red carpet to face the crush of photographers, O’Connell’s rep slipped him into a summer stunner: a gray wool overcoat with tuxedo lapels and an ankle-length scarf over his shoulders by Jonathan Anderson for Dior.

The coat comes from Anderson’s spring/summer 2027 collection for Dior, so maybe it wasn’t a surprise to some, however, the Venice Film Festival happens at a time in September that typically delivers sweltering heat and humidity. Wednesday’s temperature reached a high of 87 degrees and a low of 70, so not quite as bad as it could’ve been but still pretty sweaty.

And O’Connell was not immune. After making his way down the red carpet in front of photographers, he slipped back out of the coat before making his way down to the barricade to greet a long line of adoring fans, some of whom had been camped out there overnight to see the parade of stars on opening night. In addition to Ink, the ceremony featured a lifetime achievement award presentation to George Clooney.

After O’Connell finished signing autographs and posing for selfies, he made his way back up towards the entrance, where he took a cloth to dab all the sweat off his forehead and face (groomed by Brady Lea) while a rep helped him fix his bow tie. During the screening, O’Connell left the overcoat off and opted to wear just the long scarf, which could be seen over his shoulders amid the film’s four-minute standing ovation.

Venice’s iconic red carpet can be a challenge for stylists. Actors want to look glamorous for their premieres, yet the heat and humidity are always a factor. Though some just choose to brave the high temperatures and go for a great photo opportunity over something light and airy for the weather. Case in point: A few years back, Angelina Jolie wore a faux fur stole for the Venice premiere of Pablo Larrain’s Maria during an epic heatwave in Italy that week.

Back to O’Connell. Ink finds the Sinners star playing ruthless tabloid editor Larry Lamb in Boyle’s retelling of what happened when Rupert Murdoch acquired struggling British newspaper The Sun. Murdoch, played by Pearce, recruited Lamb to reinvent it as a populist tabloid capable of overtaking the dominant Daily Mirror. The film, from Netflix and Studiocanal, traces the creation of a formula built around sensationalism, celebrity, sex and an instinctive feel for readers’ baser instincts — an approach that would transform The Sun into Britain’s bestselling newspaper and presage many of the forces that later reshaped global media.

Ink is screening in competition in Venice. The film will release in select theaters in the U.S. on Dec. 11 before going out on Netflix on Jan. 8 in the U.S. and Latin America.

See more from O’Connell’s Venice outings below.