First trailer for Wikileaks Movie – The Fifth Estate starring Benedict Cumberbatch

Every few years or so a new actor steps upon the world stage and takes it by storm. The last few years has seen a quick rise to center stage by British actor Benedict Cumberbatch. From the ill-fated Calvary major in War Horse to this year’s Star Trek where he more than capably filled the role of the big villain to Sherlock Holmes in the updated BBC production of Sherlock, now entering its third season, Cumberbatch’s angular chin and piercing blue eyes have been earning the appreciation of fans and critics alike. Now, Disney gets its crack at him as it distributes a new DreamWorks movie “The Fifth Estate”.

Traitors, whistleblowers or journalists – however you consider them, WikiLeaks changed the game in our age of high-stakes secrecy, explosive news leaks and the trafficking of classified information. “The Fifth Estate” explores the organization and the personalities behind it as it acquires sensitive information and a seat in the world wide conversation about information, war, and security.

Left to right: Benedict Cumberbatch (Julian Assange), Carice van Houten (Birgitta J—nsd—ttir), Daniel BrŸhl (Daniel Domscheit-Berg) and Moritz Bleibtreu (Marcus) .

The story begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) team up to become underground watchdogs of the privileged and powerful. On a shoestring, they create a platform that allows whistleblowers to anonymously leak covert data, shining a light on the dark recesses of government secrets and corporate crimes. Soon, they are breaking more hard news than the world’s most legendary media organizations combined. But when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history, they battle each other and a defining question of our time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society—and what are the costs of exposing them?”

Here’s the first trailer for this dramatic thriller based on real events. “The Fifth Estate” reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization.

Directed by Bill Condon, “The Fifth Estate” also features performances by Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Peter Capaldi, Carice van Houten, Dan Stevens, with Stanley Tucci and Laura Linney. The movie opens in the US on October 18, 2013.