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Laura Linney Joining Cumberbatch & McAvoy for WikiLeaks Movie

by Ethan Anderton
November 26, 2012
Source: The Wrap

Just recently we learned that James McAvoy was in talks for one of two lead roles in the still untitled DreamWorks film about WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, the founder of the headline-making website which came under fire for exposing secret government information through leaked, classified documents, e-mails, cables and more. Benedict Cumberbatch ("Sherlock") is playing Assange while McAvoy would play Assange's former right-hand man Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who wrote one of the books on which the feature film is based. Now The Wrap reports Laura Linney is now in talks to take a role in the real-life adaptation.

It's not clear what role Linney would take in the film, but her presence is definitely a nice addition. Linney has yet to really garner large accolades on film but she's quite the gifted talent who deserves a lot more recognition. Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) will direct the film which is based on WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy and Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website, and it sounds like the film will mostly be about Assange and his work with Daniel Domscheit-Berg, but hopefully Linney has some meaty material to work this in the film.

Filed under Casting, Movie News

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Arbed121

I'd like to think that such talented actors as Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy and Laura Linney might be able to inject some truth back into this film but, realistically, what can they do? They are tied to the script and the script is based on not one but two cash-in books that, to put it mildly, were economical with the truth. Apparently, Wikileaks has already suggested a title for this movie. They're calling it Dreamworks' ANTI-Wikileaks movie. Hmm. Not a good sign. Maybe that's because Daniel Domscheit-Berg's book, which this film will be based on, is full of self-promoting - but easily spottable - lies. According to Der Spiegel, Domscheit-Berg is also heavily involved in the film's production as a consultant. This is the man who sabotaged the Wikileaks submission platform, stole money and unpublished whistleblower submissions from them, conducted endless interviews smearing Julian Assange, publicised where the passphrase to the unredacted cableset could be found (David Leigh, Guardian journalist's book chapter title!!!) and, to cap it all, DESTROYED 3,500 unpublished document that whistleblowers had submitted to Wikileaks, risking all to get the truth out to the public. Doubtless this is the man who this film will portray as the noble hero of information transparency, while Assange is portrayed as an narcisist and meglomaniac. The truth turned upsidedown.
castingcouch

She's got a really cute face.