Cumberbatch defends WikiLeaks film: 'This was never going to be a popcorn film'

Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate. Photo / AP

Benedict Cumberbatch says he is proud of his portrayal of Australian Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate despite its poor performance at the US box office.

The British actor portrayed the WikiLeaks founder in the movie about the website's publication of thousands of classified documents, despite warnings from Assange that the film would not perform well.

The movie flopped at the box office and was ranked the biggest misfire of the year by Forbes magazine but Cumberbatch insists he is still proud of his performance in the film.

He tells

GQ

magazine: "Well, I always thought that Disney and Dreamworks were odd bedfellows for such a specialist topic, really. The parallel is

The Social Network,

but everyone uses Facebook, not everyone is au fait (familiar) with WikiLeaks.

"This was never going to be popcorn multiplex film. Whether the film has a big box office or not, the response to how I have performed has done me huge favours.

"You know, it's the first lead role I've had and it's caused this much attention."

- WENN