There are documentaries that lay out the facts of the WikiLeaks/Julian Assange story, so why a journalistic thriller? The Fifth Estate’s director, Bill Condon – and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl and Laura Linney – talk about that in a brand new featurette. Check it out after the jump.
The Fifth Estate open on October 18th.
THE FIFTH ESTATE
DREAMWORKS PICTURES and RELIANCE ENTERTAINMENT in association with PARTICIPANT MEDIA
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Genre: Drama/Thriller
Release date: October 18, 2013
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Peter Capaldi, Carice van Houten, Dan Stevens, with Stanley Tucci and Laura Linney
Director: Bill Condon
Producers: Steve Golin, Michael Sugar
Executive Producers: Richard Sharkey, Paul Green, Jeff Skoll, Jonathan King
Screenplay by: Josh Singer
Based on the books: “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website” by Daniel Domscheit-Berg, and the Guardian book “WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy” by David Leigh and Luke Harding
Triggering our age of high-stakes secrecy, explosive news leaks and the trafficking of classified information, WikiLeaks forever changed the game. Now, in a dramatic thriller based on real events, “The Fifth Estate” reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization. The story begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) team up to become underground watchdogs of the privileged and powerful. On a shoestring, they create a platform that allows whistleblowers to anonymously leak covert data, shining a light on the dark recesses of government secrets and corporate crimes. Soon, they are breaking more hard news than the world’s most legendary media organizations combined. But when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history, they battle each other and a defining question of our time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society—and what are the costs of exposing them?"
“The Fifth Estate” is presented by DreamWorks Pictures and Reliance Entertainment in association with Participant Media and is produced by Steve Golin and Michael Sugar, with Bill Condon directing. The screenplay is by Josh Singer, based on the book “Inside WikiLeaks” by Daniel Domscheit-Berg and the Guardian book “WikiLeaks” by David Leigh and Luke Harding. The film will be released in theatres on October 18, 2013.
A dramatic thriller based on real events, “The Fifth Estate” reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization.
NOTES:
- The Fifth Estate refers to citizen journalism. “Fifth Estate” is used to describe media outlets (including the blogosphere) that see themselves in opposition to mainstream media (the official press) any class or group in society other than the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), the commoners (Third Estate) and the press (Fourth Estate). It has been used to describe civil society, the poor or the proletariat.