YOUR FAVORITE MTV SHOWS ARE ON PARAMOUNT+

Wikileaks Leaks 'The Fifth Estate' Script, Natch

Techy people getting irked when movies get this detail or that wrong about them is basically the new fangirl flip-out over the slightest quote changes in book-to-screeners. We saw it with Mark Zuckerberg and "The Social Network," Steve Wozniak and "Jobs" and now Julian Assange and his team at WikiLeaks have got a thing or two to say about "The Fifth Estate," the new flick chronicling the saga of Assange and his organization.

Oh, and, in keeping with their info-spreading-like-it-or-not M.O., they've also decided to go ahead and leak the script for the film, too, because obviously.

On their website, WikiLeaks posted a copy of the "Fifth Estate" screenplay, which is said to be very close to what director Bill Condon and his cast (including Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange) used during production, and they added in a little something from their own private stash as well: an "internal talking points memo" about the merits of the movie which, as they see it, is basically just "irresponsible, counterproductive and harmful."

Get the popcorn, people!

So, according to WikiLeaks, the reasons "The Fifth Estate" is so friggin' problematic include: it claims the site caused harm to thousands of government informants; it presents as fact rather than a dramatization (cause people don't know the difference between movies and the real world?); the filmmakers totes set out to make it with an agenda of painting Assange a "cartoon baddie"; it's one-sided and based on the account of a person who wasn't as involved as he said*; and producers didn't even call them about it, the big meanies!

They definitely don't like this poster, either.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 19, 2013

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 19, 2013

The jury's out on whether or not they were amused by this very tongue-in-cheek closing sequence that basically foretold this exact controversy ...

The Fifth Estate Script

In addition to Cumberbumberswumbers, "The Fifth Estate" also stars Daniel Brühl, Carice Van Houten, Stanley Tucci, Alicia Vikander, Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, Dan Stevens and David Thewlis. The film hits theaters on Oct. 18 ... much to WikiLeaks' chagrin, obvs.

* Scribe Josh Singer used one supposedly first-hand account of the inner workings of WikiLeaks to inform his adaptation — Daniel Domscheit-Berg's book "Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website" — but the site's memo claims that guy was "not significantly involved" with certain key events. A Gilderoy Lockhart situation, essentially.

Latest News