WikiLeaks movie ‘The Fifth Estate’ starts production

DreamWorks Studios has begun filming the “The Fifth Estate,” a movie about the controversial founder of WikiLeaks.

The film, which will be released in the U.S. on Nov. 15 through Disney’s Touchstone label, began principal photography last week in Iceland and is filming this week in Berlin. The film also will shoot in Belgium, where it will receive a tax credit.

Directed by Bill Condon, “The Fifth Estate” stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange and Daniel Brühl as Daniel Domscheit-Berg, as well as Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie and David Thewlis.

Following Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Brühl), an early supporter and eventual colleague of Julian Assange (Cumberbatch), “The Fifth Estate” traces the 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.

Participant Media is a co-financier on the film with DreamWorks, the latest collaboration between two companies, which previously partnered on Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” the 2011 Academy Award-winning movie “The Help,” “The Kite Runner,” and “The Soloist.” Condon is best-known for directing “Dreamgirls” and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.”

“It may be decades before we understand the full impact of WikiLeaks and how it’s revolutionized the spread of information,” Condon said in a statement. “So this film won’t claim any long view authority on its subject, or attempt any final judgment. We want to explore the complexities and challenges of transparency in the information age and, we hope, enliven and enrich the conversations WikiLeaks has already provoked.”

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