Spielberg to make Wikileaks: The Movie?

Internet movies are the new black
Internet movies are the new black

DreamWorks could be starting work on a fictionalised Wikileaks movie directed by Steven Spielberg having bought the rights to two books about the organisation and its founder, Julian Assange.

Steven Spielberg's production company, DreamWorks, has secured the screen rights to both WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy, written by two Guardian journalists, and Inside Wikileaks which was penned by one of Assange's former colleagues.

Reports suggest that the film will be an "investigative thriller in the mould of All the President's Men", which would certainly be pacier than the drip drip drip of news regarding Assange and his flight from the law in recent weeks.

Just make The Internet: The Movie and have done

Deadline Hollywood has pointed out a parallel between Dreamworks' book acquisitions and the way that The Social Network was penned, suggesting that the Wikileaks film will also be fictionalised with some parts taken from a number of sources and some parts simply made up.

This approach would also allow the movie to be made without a rights deal with Assange.

The success of David Fincher's The Social Network has made the internet seem like hot property in Hollywood this year, no doubt we'll see a number of cut-price dot com movies hoping to ride its wave of success.

But with Spielberg at the helm and plenty of intriguing source material, Wikileaks: The Movie could end up being worth a watch.

Source: The Guardian

News Editor (UK)

Former UK News Editor for TechRadar, it was a perpetual challenge among the TechRadar staff to send Kate (Twitter, Google+) a link to something interesting on the internet that she hasn't already seen. As TechRadar's News Editor (UK), she was constantly on the hunt for top news and intriguing stories to feed your gadget lust. Kate now enjoys life as a renowned music critic – her words can be found in the i Paper, Guardian, GQ, Metro, Evening Standard and Time Out, and she's also the author of 'Amy Winehouse', a biography of the soul star.