Post date: Jan 25, 2013 11:54:46 PM
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks out against DreamWorks movie "The Fifth Estate" and "corrupt" media and culture.
FRANK CONNOR/DREAMWORKS - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange hit out against DreamWorks movie "The Fifth Estate" during a speech to the Oxford Union on Wednesday (January 23).
Speaking via video-link from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Assange accused the film of being "a mass propaganda attack" and said it "fans the flames to start a war with Iran". He also revealed that he had acquired a script of the film, which is currently in production starring British actor Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange."This movie has British involvement and people in Britain should be concerned about it. So that's the reality of where we're at, not merely a war of intelligence agencies, but a war of corrupt media, corrupt culture", Assange told the historic Oxford Union's debating chamber, during an event celebrating whistle-blowers.
Assange also used the address to clarify his current legal status. The 41-year-old, whose website angered the United States by releasing thousands of secret diplomatic cables, has been holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 2012, to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations. Assange has denied any wrongdoing.
"The Fifth Estate" promises to trace the early days of WikiLeaks through the eyes of Assange and his German former spokesman, Daniel Domscheit-Berg (played in the movie by Daniel Brühl), culminating in the release in 2010 of a series of thousands of damaging government documents and e-mails.
The film's director Bill Condon promised that he will not attempt to pass final judgment on the former hacker and his influence.
The movie screenplay is based on Domscheit-Berg's 2011 book "Inside WikiLeaks," written after the disillusioned German activist quit the organisation, and a second book, "WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy," by journalists David Leigh andLuke Harding.
DreamWorks Studios has said that "The Fifth Estate" will open in the U.S. in November 2013.