PRODUCTION BEGINS ON DREAMWORKS’
WIKILEAKS PROJECT “THE FIFTH
ESTATE”
Participant Media Joins Project
LOS
ANGELES, CA (January 23, 2013)
- Principal
photography has begun on the WikiLeaks drama “The Fifth Estate,” it was
announced today by DreamWorks Studios. The film about the controversial
website stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange and Daniel Brühl as Daniel
Domscheit-Berg, as well as Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Peter
Capaldi, Dan Stevens, Alicia Vikander and Carice van Houten.
“The
Fifth Estate” will open in U.S. theaters on November 15, 2013 and be
distributed domestically by Disney’s Touchstone label. Distribution
internationally will be split among Disney, DreamWorks partner Reliance, and
deals made through the studio’s partnership with Mister Smith
Entertainment.
Following
Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Brühl), an early supporter and eventual colleague of
Julian Assange (Cumberbatch), “The Fifth Estate” traces the heady, 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.
Joining
DreamWorks as a co-financier on “The Fifth Estate” is Participant Media.
This will be the fifth collaboration between the two companies who previously
partnered on Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” the 2011 Academy Award-winning smash
“The Help,” “The Kite Runner” and “The Soloist.” With a focus on real
issues that shape our lives, Participant creates social action and advocacy
programs to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and
community action. Some of their other films include “An Inconvenient
Truth,” “Good Night, and Good Luck,” “Food, Inc.,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,”
“Waiting for ‘'Superman,’” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and the current
Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, “No.”
Bill
Condon (“Kinsey,” “Dreamgirls,” "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn")
will direct “The Fifth Estate” from a screenplay by Josh Singer (TV’s “Fringe,”
“The West Wing”), based on “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at
the World’s Most Dangerous Website” by Daniel Domscheit-Berg and “WikiLeaks:
Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy” by David Leigh and Luke
Harding. The producers are Steve Golin and Michael Sugar, with
Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King joining Richard Sharkey as executive
producers. “The Fifth Estate” is a coproduction between Afterworks and
FBO, with Hilde De Laere co-producing for FBO. The film is supported by the
Belgian Tax Shelter for Audiovisual Production.
Said
director Bill Condon, “It may be decades before we understand the full impact
of WikiLeaks and how it's revolutionized the spread of information. 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.”
About DreamWorks Studios
DreamWorks Studios is a motion picture company formed in 2009
and led by Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider in partnership with The Reliance
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The company’s recent releases include
Spielberg's "Lincoln," starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy
Lee Jones. The film has grossed over $150 million at the U.S. box office
and has been nominated for twelve Academy awards including Best Picture and
Best Director. Other releases include “Real Steel,” starring Hugh Jackman
and directed by Shawn Levy, Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” based on Michael
Morpurgo’s award-winning book and was nominated for six Academy Awards
including Best Picture, and “The Help,” which resonated with audiences around
the country and earned over $200 million at the box office and received four
Academy Award nominations with Octavia Spencer winning one for Best Supporting
Actress. Upcoming films include the comedy "Delivery Man,"
starring Vince Vaughn, the WikiLeaks drama "The Fifth Estate," and car
racing actioner "Need For Speed."
DreamWorks Studios can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DreamWorksStudios
and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dw_studios.