It was bound to happen sooner or later, but Julian Assange may be set for a big pay day if plans for a WikiLeaks movie get the green light. Pre-production is said to be already underway based on this book by a pair of Guardian journalists. If you think "The Social Network" but with WikiLeaks instead, then you won't be far off as to what the end result should be like.
Wikileaks, as you no doubt are well aware, has gained notoriety in recent years by releasing secret and classified information which it believes is in the public interest, much to the chagrin of many governments and corporations around the world. The studio behind the film, Dreamworks, has also snapped up the rights to another book by Wikileaks pariah and Assanges's former colleague, Daniel Domsheit-Berg. This gives further credibility to the idea that they may be attempting to create a "docu-thriller" which has all the elements that audiences love: Intrigue, conspiracy, betrayal and a dramatically licensed portrait of an Internet legend.
Whether of not Assange will be free to see the film by the time it is released is another matter entirely. He is currently facing extradition to Sweden over a rape allegation and could end up behind bars by the end of the year. The United States was also keen to extradite Assange over the "Cablegate" affair which saw the release of hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables. Thus far, however, they have been unable to find any legal grounds to do so as since Assange isn't a US citizen.
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