Thanks for that link, Susi, it's great! Those B-Rolls are soooo interesting!

Wikileaks has published Assange's first letter to Benedict:

http://wikileaks.org/First-Letter-from-Julian-Assange.html

Well, he is a very ambivalent character. Vain, I think. Megalomaniac in a way. He does have a point but I think he tends to see only his own position and creates enemy images. He is described as unpredictable and this may be proof of this. 

Regardless of my position as a fangirl, I honestly think he's lucky to have an actor such as BC playing him.  BC is well known for giving his characters an rich inner life and does not  like to play things in black and white. 
Just look at what he did with Kahn.  In lesser hands this would have been an broad cartoon villian but Ben turned in a performance that gave Kahn actual depth and could make us sympathize with his motives if not his methods.

Fifth Estate finally opens here next week and I can't wait to see it.

Too awesome for words.

And back to serious - hard words from here:

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/julian-assange-open-letter-1013?src=spr_TWITTER&spr_id=1456_26596345

My thoughts exactly. But then again I don't know enough of the business to evaluate such a kind of meeting.
From my "innocent" point of view a meeting would have been the perfectly right thing to do.

Just found a short press report by the German news agency dpa about what Benedict said about Assange on the Graham Norton Show. It's in German and I tried to translate it:


Cumberbatch lobt Assange: Demokratie einen großen Dienst erwiesen

   London (dpa) - Der britische Schauspieler Benedict Cumberbatch («Sherlock») hält viel von Wikileaks-Gründer Julian Assange, den er in dem neuen Film «The Fith Estate» verkörpert. «Er hat der Demokratie einen großen Dienst erwiesen», sagte Cumberbatch in der Aufzeichnung für die «Graham Norton Show», eine Talkshow, die am Freitagabend in der BBC ausgestrahlt werden sollte. «Er hat Fragen aufgeworfen über den Status Quo, über die Kraft von Gesetzen und über Machtstrukturen, die korrupt sind und die angesprochen werden müssen», sagte Cumberbatch.


Cumberbatch lauds Assange: Rendered great service to democracy

   London (dpa) - The British actor Benedict Cumberbatch («Sherlock»)
thinks a great deal of Wikileaks-founder Julian Assange, whom he portrays in the new movie «The Fifth Estate». «He rendered a great service to democracy», said Cumberbatch during the recording of the «Graham Norton Show», a talk show that is to be airing on BBC on Friday evening. «He brought up questions about the status quo, about the power of law and about power structures that are corrupt and need to be adressed», said Cumberbatch.

The Guardian posted a longish video review on "The Fifth Estate" on Friday. Quite interesting.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2013/oct/11/guardian-film-show-the-fifth-estate-tim-hetherington-le-week-end

 

I have to say I really really enjoyed the movie! I've seen it twice now and will be going again shortly. Not just because of Benedict, of course, but I've been following these stories on the news and have been interested in Assange and WikiLeaks for quite a while now. I've always supported him and from that point of view I can totally see why he doesn't like the movie (or the script, seeing as he can't actually just pop out to the cinema to see it). It focuses far too much on the personal side of things, going into random details about things that aren't really neccessary or important to the story. I think he would have preferred it if they'd just stuck to the facts and told the story of WikiLeaks rather than tried to tell the story of him. All that stuff with his family history and his father etc. Not to mention the fact that he DOESN'T dye his hair That was all just complete...well...bullshit, to be honest.

I realise I'm now making it sound like I DON'T like the movie, when in fact I do. I'm just running through the aspects I didn't like about it first to get all that off my chest because it annoys me. I was quite sceptical about seeing it in the first place because I knew what Assange's opinion is and the whole history of it including the two books its based on. I was concerned that it would make Assange out to be a complete arsehole and I think, if it had been in anyone's hands except Benedict's, it probably would have done.

His performance was just...incredible, and I was with Assange the whole way through, especially when his so called friends turned on him and brought down the upload site so no one could send in any more leaks. I actually almost cried. I just felt so sorry for him and to me, it just made Daniel seem like a complete cock. I don't know if you were supposed to be on Daniel's side or not, but I totally wasn't. I was with Julian the whole time despite the script, despite the lies, despite the slander, and I honestly believe it's Benedict that's done that. He's actually done a great service to Assange and to his cause because anyone who's intelligent enough will see this movie and not change their opinions about the good that WikiLeaks is doing.

Wow, sorry for getting slightly political but hard not to with a film like this. Also, the part at the end when he's talking to the camera and actually referencing the film itself, that just completely blew my mind, it was like inception. My head was hurting. I was like..."oh my God, I don't even know who Julian Assange is anymore...is he Benedict Cumberbatch?"