14 DAY TRIAL // This Friday, Benedict Cumberbatch returns to the big screen in a role that’s already gotten him loads of attention, including of the unwanted type: he stars as Julian Assange in the Bill Condon-directed “The Fifth Estate.”
Assange wrote Cumberbatch a letter before production started, which was made public just recently, asking him not to do the movie because it was detrimental to the WikiLeaks cause and his own, of course.
When he refused, Assange’s response was to try and demolish the film in the press. In fact, he’s still bad-mouthing it whenever he gets the chance, saying that movies, albeit accepted as works of fiction (dramatizations, at best) shape the public opinion to a considerable extent.
According to a new report in PageSix, Benedict is choosing to see the lighter side of the situation.
“While Benedict Cumberbatch introduced the New York premiere of ‘The Fifth Estate’ – about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks – a cell phone rang out in the audience,” the e-zine says.
“Don’t answer it,” Benedict reportedly said. “It’s Julian, and he’s calling to tell you all not to watch!”
This being Page Six, it’s best if the above tidbit is taken with a grain of salt. Even if it didn’t happen, it still serves to show how much Assange is actually helping the movie by bashing it publicly: if he didn’t want people seeing it, the last thing he should have done was go on the record with so many negative things to say about it.