With their promising adaptation of Arthur Miller's "A View From The Bridge," with names like Vera Farmiga and Mia Wasikowska who were attached to star failing to materialize, Robert Connolly and Anthony LaPaglia (who previously teamed on "Balibo") have now set their sights on a film about one of the biggest international political figures in recent times, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
Boasting a script also penned by Connolly, the Australian TV movie, titled "Underground," will focus on Assange's younger days as a computer hacker. Rachel Griffiths will star as Assange's mother, Christine, and LaPaglia will be playing a detective on her son's trail. Newcomer Alex Williams will play the younger Assange with Callan McAuliffe (who'll play the younger Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation), Laura Wheelwright and Jordan Paskopoulos also part of the cast.
“'Underground' is the incredible, true story of a group of schoolboys in Melbourne who were hacking into the some of the biggest corporate and military organizations in the world, at the dawn of the internet age," producer Helen Bowden revealed. "It is a fascinating tale and we are very excited to be bringing it to the screen.”
Lensing will begin later this month in Assange's native Melbourne, with an eye on an unveiling in the second half of the year. Expect to find the TV movie to be unveiled stateside through NBC sometime after that as the U.S. studio has a large financial interest in the project's backers, Matchbox Pictures. [IF/mUmbrella]
