British PM praises Cumberbatch's work in 'The Fifth Estate'

British Prime Minister David Cameron has praised Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange in "The Fifth Estate", another film from the DreamWorks-Reliance Entertainment partnership, calling it a "fantastic piece of acting".

"The Fifth Estate" is based on real events that reveal the deceptions and corruption of power that turned an upstart internet company WikiLeaks into the 21st century's most fiercely debated organisation.

Cameron was asked to review "The Fifth Estate" before an appearance on British chat show "The Agenda" on ITV Monday night. He managed to see the first part of the film, reports theguardian.com.

"Benedict Cumberbatch - brilliant, fantastic piece of acting. The twitchiness and everything of Julian Assange is brilliantly portrayed," Cameron told ITN's political editor Tom Bradby, who presents "The Agenda".

In the past, DreamWorks-Reliance Entertainment partnership made highly acclaimed films like "The Help", "War Horse" and "Lincoln".

The British prime minister also said that WikiLeaks did well in its early period when it exposed corruption in Africa. But he said that in its later period WikiLeaks had put lives at risk.

Directed by Bill Condon, "The Fifth Estate" has been selected as the closing film at the 15th Mumbai Film Festival organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI).

The eight-day film fest will start Oct 17 here.