14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that our dreams of seeing Jeremy Renner play Julian Assange in the upcoming biopic have just been shattered. Deadline reports that Benedict Cumberbatch is now being considered for the lead.
Cumberbatch went “mainstream” with his role in the very successful and well received BBC One series “Sherlock,” and will be seen next as villain in the “Star Trek” sequel.
The same media outlet notes that Joel Kinnaman, who is now shooting the “RoboCop” remake, is also in talks for a part.
“The conversations on DreamWorks’ Julian Assange film that Twilight Saga’s Bill Condon will likely direct is now with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the WikiLeaks founder, and Robocop’s Joel Kinnaman playing his former right hand man, Daniel Domscheit-Berg,” the e-zine says.
“DreamWorks acquired the books WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War On Secrecy, by David Leigh and Luke Harding, and Inside WikiLeaks: My Time With Julian Assange At The World’s Most Dangerous Website, written by Domscheit-Berg. Josh Singer wrote the script,” Deadline adds.
Various other names have been thrown around in conversation in relation to the biopic but, for the time being, it seems that Cumberbatch is the one.