Daniel Brühl Replaces James McAvoy In Bill Condon’s WikiLeaks Film
It looks likeJames McAvoywon’t be reuniting with hisAtonementandStarterfor 10 co-starBenedict Cumberbatchafter all. Earlier this month, welearnedthat McAvoy had signed on forBill Condon’s WikiLeaks movie in the role ofDaniel Domscheit-Berg, right-hand man toJulian Assange(Cumberbatch). Unfortunately, negotiations have now broken down over McAvoy’s commitment toX-Men: Days of Future Past.
But the news isn’t without a silver lining. Replacing McAvoy in the part will beDaniel Brühl, best known in the U.S. for playing Nazi soldier Fredrick Zoller inInglourious Basterds. More details after the jump.
While I don’t know much about Domscheit-Berg’s personality, there’s at least one sense in which Brühl makes a better pick than either McAvoy or the previously rumored Joel Kinnaman — like Domscheit-Berg, Brühl is German. Brühl and Cumberbatch are the only confirmed stars at the moment, though the trade notes that “there is interest” in gettingLaura Linneyto play a CIA officer.
The real-life Domscheit-Berg met Assange at the Chaos Computer Club conference in 2007, and became the organization’s spokesperson soon after. He grew increasingly disillusioned with Assange, and the two men had a falling out in 2010. In 2011, Domscheit-Berg published a tell-all memoir about his time with Assange,Inside WikiLeaks: My Time With Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website.
That tome comprises one of two source materials for Condon’s film, the other beingDavid LeighandLuke Harding’sWikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War On Secrecy. The script, byJosh Singer(The West Wing), portrays Assange as an idealist who becomes corrupted by power.
Brühl is better known in his native country than he is in the U.S., but he’s certainly on his way up. He first gained international attention in 2003 withGood Bye, Lenin!, and again in 2009 withInglourious Basterds. His upcoming English-language projects include Ron Howard’sFormula 1drama Rush and Anton Corbijn’s John le Carré adaptationA Most Wanted Man.
