Bill Condon directs Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate, which is set for a Nov 15 North American release through Touchstone in time for awards consideration. Disney, DreamWorks, Reliance and Mister Smith split the international release.

Participant Media is on board as co-financier in the parties’ latest collaboration after Oscar frontrunner Lincoln and The Help.

Condon directs from a screenplay by Josh Singer based on Inside WikiLeaks: My Time With Julian Assange At The World’s Most Dangerous Website by Daniel Domscheit-Berg and WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War On Secrecy by David Leigh and Luke Harding.

Daniel Brühl will play Domscheit-Berg, Assange’s German spokesman who was the first person he hired at WikiLeaks. The story follows the early days of the freedom of information warriors up to the notorious information dump by US Army private Bradley Manning.

Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Peter Capaldi, Dan Stevens, Alicia Vikander and Carice van Houten round out the key cast.

Steve Golin and Michael Sugar produce and Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King joining Richard Sharkey as executive producers. The Fifth Estate is a coproduction between Afterworks and FBO and is supported by the Belgian Tax Shelter for Audiovisual Production.