Cumberbatch to play Assange?

Benedict Cumberbatch is rumoured to be in talks to take the lead role in a film about Julian Assange.

The Sherlock star is tipped to portray the WikiLeaks founder, with RoboCop's Joel Kinnaman as his former right hand man Daniel Domscheit-Berg in the DreamWorks film, reported Deadline.

Jeremy Renner is reported to have previously had "loose discussions" with DreamWorks about the movie.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn filmmaker Bill Condon is "likely" to direct the movie, which is based on two books - WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War On Secrecy by David Leigh and Luke Harding, and Inside WikiLeaks: My Time With Julian Assange At The World's Most Dangerous Website, written by Daniel Domscheit-Berg.

There are a number of other projects, including a documentary and three films, in the pipeline featuring the WikiLeaks founder, who is battling extradition to Sweden.

The role would add further star power to Benedict's status, following his roles in Steven Spielberg's War Horse, the Star Trek sequel and Steve McQueen's Twelve Years A Slave. He is also rumoured to play a Bond baddie in the next film.

Benedict, who sparked speculation he was dating Liv Tyler when the pair were seen leaving a cinema, will next be seen as the voice of Smaug the dragon and the Necromancer in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy.