WikiLeaks is not happy with the new film The Fifth Estate, which states Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange and was directed by Bill Condon. The organization found the film bad and “irresponsible,” so it decided to leak the film’s script.
The film was first seen at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it earned mixed reviews, but WikiLeaks did not immediately comment, notes Entertainment Weekly That is, until yesterday.
WikiLeaks sent out a tweet saying that they were never consulted for the film, which it called “bad.” So, they posted a link to the entire script, which they added a memo to. In the memo, the group notes that the script is a very “mature” version and that was “obtained at a late stage during the principal photography of 2013.” Therefore, Condon was wrong when he said, “[Assange] got hold of a very, very early draft of the script, which he has commented on, which really bears little resemblance to the movie we made,” according to WikiLeaks.
The group says that the film is “irresponsible, counterproductive and harmful” and based on outdated books written by people with grudges against WikiLeaks. “These are personally biased sources and are now outdated by three years. They tell only one side of the story,” the memo reads.
In the memo, Assange and WikiLeaks also goes after Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Assange as a bad guy and claims that they did try to contact the producers. However, they ignored their requests for changes.
Disney recently rescheduled The Fifth Estate for a wide release on Oct. 18. The film is a DreamWorks production that Disney is distributing. The company did not react to WikiLeaks’ claims.
image: trailer