38th Toronto International Film Festival Coverage: Day One
Thursday, September 5th, 2013 by Ian Evans
It’s the first day of the Festival and time for us to head down to Roy Thomson Hall for the fest’s opening night film, Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate. The film, which examines the website WikiLeaks, stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the controversial Julian Assange, who depending on your point of view is a whistle-blowing lover of transparency in government or a leaker of secrets who puts lives at risk.
Assange is apparently not pleased with the film and tried to persuade Cumberbatch not to get involved with the project. Cumberbatch is everywhere this TIFF, with roles in August: Osage County and 12 Years a Slave. He told reporters on the carpet that he felt TIFF was an appropriate venue for the film as The Fifth Estate was about citizen journalism and access and he felt that the Toronto festival was much more accessible to the public than many others.