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Benedict
Cumberbatch
dyes hair and goes for the Wikileak-look of Julian Assange
filmOA
text Sam Thorne
Wikileaks is one of the most controversial websites to arrive in the public sphere in recent years, because Wikileaks bears knowledge and information, which many people equate to power. Subject to both tremendous praise by journalists for their exhibition of political disgraces, and tremendous disgust of politicians. The story of Wikileaks is a long confusing tale that’s incredibly subjective and could be viewed from a number of different angles depending on your stance on the topic. But what stance will director Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, Chicago, Kinsey) take in his upcoming film due for release in November, The Fifth Estate?
Bill Condon has a flare for the dramatic, most notable in his successful adaptations of musicals to the big screen. His Oscar winning film Gods and Monsters (1998) also shows an affinity for the biographical feature. But how he’ll depict Assange is mainly unknown.
Julian Assange for all of his time in the public eye is still a very debated figure. Most are dubious about his past, his initial stints of hacking and illegal activity before he became a legitimate journalist — or to some an illegitimate one. One thing that does seem certain is that Condon won’t focus on the website like many independent films have, but he’ll very much focus on the working relationship of Julian Assange and former Wikileaks spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg. The screenplay is said to be based on Berg’s book ‘Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange and the World’s Most Dangerous Website’.
“Condon won’t focus on the website, but on the relationship of Julian Assange and former Wikileak Daniel Domscheit-Berg.”
Daniel Domscheit-Berg in a nutshell claimed that the working relationship between him and Assange was stretched when Julian lost all sight of his journalistic integrity. He and other members of the Wikileaks staff claimed that Julian stopped being cautious about the sources of said documents, journals, and encrypted files and that ultimately he did not care who he shamed. From Afghan war dairies, to Guantanamo Bay prisoner logs, to highly classified documents, Wikileaks has been at the heart of journalistic controversy for years. Mostly notably ‘Cablegate’. Cablegate is a world-wide media scandal which occurred when Wikileaks somehow obtained roughly 200,000 or more diplomatic cables that had been sent to the U.S State department over the last 40 or so years. Since then, Wikileaks has been in contact with several newspapers within several countries to slowly leak these documents while removing names and personal data.
These are just some of the many controversies to occur from Wikileaks. Playing the two major administrative figures are the incredibly talented Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange and German actor Daniel Bruhl as Daniel Domschiet-Berg. Benedict Cumberbatch has an outstanding knack for playing emotionally distant and cold characters. And judging from the films sources it’s a safe bet he’ll depict Julian Assange in a mostly negative light. Another safe bet would be that Daniel Bruhl will be the film’s primary point of view character, considering it’s based on his characters biography of the situation. Much like David Fincher’s The Social Network (2011). I expect The Fifth Estate to be a very cold, isolating and in-depth look at one of the world’s most misunderstood websites and the unknown faces that lurk behind them. I certainly await it’s arrival. 
Fifth Estate is out now (US). + more dates
