(Courtesy of DreamWorks Studios/Frank Connor)
The WikiLeaks controversy forever changed the public’s perception of information and how it’s shared (or obfuscated). Now DreamWorks Studios brings that drama to life with The Fifth Estate. Principal photography has already begun, and the film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange and Daniel Brühl as Daniel Domscheit-Berg, as well as Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Peter Capaldi, Dan Stevens, Alicia Vikander and Carice van Houten. Bill Condon will direct.
Following Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Brühl), an early supporter and eventual colleague of Julian Assange (Cumberbatch), “The Fifth Estate” traces the heady, early days of WikiLeaks, culminating in the release of a series of controversial and history changing information leaks. The website’s overnight success brought instant fame to its principal architects and transformed the flow of information to news media and the world at large.
The Fifth Estate will be distributed by Disney’s Touchstone label, and they are targeting a November 15, 2013 theatrical release.