Not much time has passed since the conviction of Army Pfc Bradley Manning, and his life is already in the process of being documented on celluloid.
Only one day after his conviction, the rights to Denver Nicks’ book Private: Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks, and the Biggest Exposure of Official Secrets in American History have been brought by filmmaker Alex Gibney and producer Marc Shmuger.
Oscar-winning documentary maker Gibney is planning on making a dramatic feature film, not a documentary on Manning, reports Mashable.com . Gibney and Shmuger, who collaborated on We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, are looking for writers to adapt the book, as reported in Variety .
“The Bradley Manning story is easily one of the most important stories of the last decade. In many ways, Bradley Manning’s story is the story of the United States in the post 9/11 era,” author Denver Nicks said in the interview.
“I hope that Judge Lind will be lenient in her sentence, taking into consideration Manning’s intent, his willingness to take responsibility for his actions, and the outrageously abusive treatment he has received at the hands of the Obama Administration,” Gibney told Variety.
Gibney won an Oscar for his 2007 films Taxi to the Dark Side which was about suspicious activities of American soldiers in Afghanistan. Gibney also made a documentary We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks.
The movie adaptation comes soon after the trailer release of Wikileaks-based movie, The Fifth Estate. The Fifth Estate , which is set to hit theaters on October 18, is based mainly on two books: Inside WikiLeaks, Domscheit-Berg’s first-person account of his experience working with Assange, and _The Guardian_ ’s WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy.