Spielberg studio buys rights to WikiLeaks book: paper

Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios have bought the rights to a book written by two British journalists about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, their newspaper said Thursday.

"The rights to the book have been purchased by DreamWorks," said a spokeswoman for The Guardian, which published the secret US diplomatic cables released by the whistle-blowing website last year.

Editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger told the newspaper the film would be "Woodward and Bernstein meets Stieg Larsson meets Jason Bourne, plus the odd moment of sheer farce and, in Julian Assange, a compelling character who goes beyond what any Hollywood scriptwriter would dare to invent".

"WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's war on secrecy", by Guardian journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding, details the Australian former computer hacker's life and times and their dealings with him over the release of US cables.

The Guardian's ties with Assange have since become strained.

Assange is currently fighting extradition from Britain to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of rape, which he denies.

DreamWorks Studios were founded in 1994 by Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.