It was inevitable, of course, that
Julian Assange, freedom of information campaigner and the front man of Wikileaks would at some point be depicted on the big screen. What is a surprise, however, is the speed and avarice with which his life story has been seized upon by the Hollywood machine. With so much of the Assange story yet to truly unfold before, inevitably, by hook or by crook, the CIA finally get their man, one would think that producers and screenwriters would be waiting with pens poised for Assanges nascent martyrdom for democracy. Not so, it would appear. Keen to steal a march on potential competitors, Michelle Krum and her production company
have optioned an as yet unreleased biography of Assange entitled
The Most Dangerous Man in the World. The book, written by Australian journalist Andrew Fowler details Assanges early life and rise to the founder and figurehead of the most controversial and politically relevant website on the planet. And Fowler will certainly have had a well of dramatic materiel from which to draw, echoing his own nomadic lifestyle; as a boy Assanges mother took him touring Australia with a theatrical troupe run by she and her then husband, before later going on the run with him and his step-brother to avoid a custody battle with her second husband. Following these exploits, Assange became immersed in the world of computer hacking and radical politics, and headed a subversive group of hackers who penetrated American military computers via modem when he was only 19 years of age. Having narrowly escaped gaol for these transgressions, Assange went on to pioneer ISP software and development in the mid-nineties before using the money and knowledge garnered to embark upon the course of online activism which has made him the most divisive figure of radical activism on the planet- The Most Dangerous Man in the World of the books title.
Whether the life of a man who will, so it seems, become an icon of political insurrection for generations to come, will be attributed proper weight and significance- especially in the country whose ire he has most readily drawn- seems improbable. What does seem certain, however, is The Most Dangerous Man in the World will not be the last film made about one of the most important political figures of the twentieth century.