Dreamworks’ planned biopic of Julian Assange already has Benedict Cumberbatch onboard to play the main character, and now the cast has gotten even better, as James McAvoy is in talks to star in director Bill Condon’s movie, according to Variety.
McAvoy is portraying Daniel Domscheit-Berg, whose book Inside WikiLeaks: My Time With Julian Assange At The World’s Most Dangerous Website serves as the basis for this biopic. Joel Kinnaman was rumoired to play Daniel Domscheit-Berg, although a deal never materialised.
Julian Assange launched the WikiLeaks in 2006 and recruited Daniel Domscheit-Berg to join the site a year later, amidst promises that the duo would change the world. The site has come under fire from various authorities for releasing 1000s of classified files that have embarrassed many world leaders. Domscheit-Berg left the site due to Julian Assange’s lack of journalistic integrity. Of course Assange is now in the Ecuadorian embassy, where he’s sought asylum after the UK tried to deport him to to Sweden on rape charges.
Josh Singer is adapting the screenplay based on both Domscheit-Berg’s book and WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War On Secrecy by David Leigh and Luke Harding.