Benedict Cumberbatch on Pissing Off Julian Assange and The Challenges of Playing Real People

[@pndrgn74]

He is so brilliant and articulate, I could listen to him ramble on for hours!

[@gamerdareswins2825]

He's English. They all sound that way.

[@pndrgn74]

no I watch and listen to a lot of British TV and they all don't sound like that

[@lesliegeddes7896]

Really ? Shocking to me that he is proud of being involved in a project that trivializes the courage Julian must have had to show the world the war crimes of the USA.

[@tossmeacarrot]

I came away from watching The Fifth Estate feeling a great respect for Julian Assange, and felt that I could begin to understand what it must be like to have one's life to be under attack as a result of blowing secrets out into the open. I did not see this movie as a character assassination at all. I thought it was brilliantly done.

[@VanSisean]

The film in general and Cumberbatch's performance in particular did seemingly make an attempt to alloy the portrayal of Assange and WikiLeaks with some nuance (especially in showing the early stages of his partnership with Domscheit-Berg and the nobility of the overall intentions and mission of WikiLeaks, but even more subtly in moments such as Assange ceasing his tirade against Domscheit-Berg aboard his outgoing flight when he notices a small child watching him). However, the impression that someone watching "The Fifth Estate" who was previously unaware of many, much less any, details regarding the case of Assange and WikiLeaks would likely be left with is that Assange turned into a petty, narcissistic megalomaniac who callously put lives at risk in the name of "breaking a few eggs to make an omelette," as it were (despite contrary admissions and evidence from former Defense Secretary Robert Gates; former Deputy and Acting D/CIA Michael Morell; Brigadier General Robert Carr; film director Laura Poitras in "Risk" with recent corroboration from Project Veritas - though both of these were released after the film, in contrast to the admissions of Gates, Morell, Carr, and others; etc.). Meanwhile, the film makes the likes of Domscheit-Berg and The Guardian out to be unproblematic heroes despite the arguably reckless way they handled WikiLeaks materials themselves (and the latter newspaper has subsequently published a story with an utter dearth of photographic or other evidence that remains un-retracted regarding Assange meeting Paul Manafort on three separate occasions in the Ecuadorian Embassy, i.e., probably one of the most surveilled locations on earth at the time, written by Luke Harding, the selfsame journalist whose co-authored book was one of the primary bases for "The Fifth Estate" and was one of the sources in which said recklessness occurred, i.e., divulging the password to an encrypted file with sensitive information). Sources: Ellen Nakashima, "Pentagon: Undisclosed Wikileaks Documents 'Potentially More Explosive,'" The Washington Post, August 11, 2010 Josh Gerstein, "Gates Shrugs Off WikiLeaks Cable Dump," Politico, November 30, 2010 Mark Hosenball, "US Officials Privately Say WikiLeaks Damage Limited," Reuters, January 18, 2011 Kit Eaton, "OpenLeaks-WikiLeaks Smackdown Reveals Theft and Foul Play in Leak Land," Fast Company, February 11, 2011 Matt Giuca, "WikiLeaks Password Leak FAQ," Unspecified Behaviour (Wordpress blog on cryptography), September 3, 2011 Abby Ohlheiser, "The U.S. Can't Connect a Single Death to Bradley Manning's Leaks," The Atlantic, July 31, 2013 Nancy A. Youssef, "Officials May Be Overstating the Danger from WikiLeaks," McClatchy Newspapers, September 25, 2013 "Risk | Julian Assange's Emergency Call to Hillary Clinton's Office | SHOWTIME Documentary," July 21, 2017 (available on KZbin) Paul Farhi, "The Guardian Offered a Bombshell Story About Paul Manafort - It Still Hasn't Detonated," The Washington Post, December 4, 2018 "RAW AUDIO: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Phone Call With Hillary Clinton's State Department," Project Veritas, December 16, 2020 (available on KZbin)

[@therealaype]

@@VanSisean that's bout the most well written comment I've ever seen. citations and all

[@VanSisean]

@@therealaype In many cases, Yew-Toob's algorithms and personnel do not allow informed comments with source excerpts and citations to exist or persist. From this, one gets the impression that reducing discourse to the LCD is a feature and not a bug of the video-sharing site, and many other social media besides.

[@gamerdareswins2825]

Being an Australian i can safely say that Bens accent was very convincing though a bit stiff in places but our accent is one of if not THE most difficult to replicate.

[@capitalist4life]

Assange should have directed his frustration toward the people who wrote the plot. This guy seems like he genuinely wanted to portray Assange fairly.

[@elenarf879]

Reading comments here, you can see how this movie got its goal to generate rejection towards JA, who in reality has a gentle nature.

[@LJak07]

Benedict is a truly lovely person, I, too, could listen to him talk for hours! He is also an amazing actor and genuinely humble and intelligent.

[@lesliegeddes7896]

Personally I was wondering where his moral compass is .

[@LoopyLaloo]

I love how the interviewer keeps glancing down at his paper while Benedict just keeps rambling on XD

[@anawilde8337]

Benedict always expresses his ideas so beautifully, it's amazing

[@mile1060]

#FreeAssangeNOW

[@smitasingh21]

Ben, just make a deduction and bring back sherlock ❤️😭

[@whereispmc]

I didn't think he got the accent right (@ 1.50). He did ok compared to other actors but most actors are hopeless at Australian accent, and he still made me cringe and stop watching after listening to him for 10 minutes. I can't think of one attempt by a non Australian where I have thought 'hey, well done'. Rachel Griffith said "Actors get our accent wrong as they try and lay it over their own accent, when in reality they need to get rid of their accent, flatten and broaden their vowels and only then will sound more Australian.' Good try though Cumberbatch!

[@msrainbowbrite]

whereispmc Made me laugh, I thought he was playing a South African. Even when he spoke about his time in Melbourne, I thought "is there a Melbourne in SA?" lol

[@AdventuresStories]

Julian must stay in UK

[@gogadgetgo3125]

The military state of the so called 'US' and 'hollywood'. A match made in hell.

[@Mav_F]

Thats because City Australians don't have a real Australian Accent anymore and they think did spot on accent. Some one who is older and lived in the country and worked in the city, you didn't do it right. I do have to say its no where as bad as most other actors.

[@dianaforsea8163]

Benedict is cute. They made him look creepy in the film.

[@cillepritchard1296]

You are so deceptive! The people at Julian's side have covered the misrepresentations in this film and you get a mic to continue the outright lies!