Yesterday WikiLeaks published a letter sent from Julian Assange to Benedict Cumberbatch in January of this year. Cumberbatch is playing Assange in The Fifth Estate, a WikiLeaks biopic coming out this month.
Dear Benedict,
Thank you for trying to contact me. It is the first approach by anyone from the Dreamworks production to me or WikiLeaks.
My assistants communicated your request to me, and I have given it a lot of thought and examined your previous work, which I am fond of.
I think I would enjoy meeting you.
The bond that develops between an actor and a living subject is significant.
If the film reaches distribution we will forever be correlated in the public imagination. Our paths will be forever entwined. Each of us will be granted standing to comment on the other for many years to come and others will compare our characters and trajectories.
But I must speak directly.
It is a very long letter where Assange details the aspects of the film that he believes would be personally damaging to him. You can find the whole thing right here. Is Assange overreacting, or will The Fifth Estate hurt Assange and WikiLeaks? You won’t have to wait very long to decide for yourself—the film debuts next week. Look for the Mercury‘s review!