Rachel Griffiths, Anthony Lapaglia Set for Underground TV Movie

Rachel Griffiths and Anthony LaPaglia have been cast in the Australian television movie Underground, according to a report on Deadline.com. Robert Connolly has written the screenplay and will direct the project.

The film will center on the early life of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (to be played by Alex Williams). Griffiths will play his activist mother, Christine Assange, and LaPaglia will play Ken Roberts, a detective working to determine Assange’s activity with a ring of underground hackers in Melbourne.

The cast will also feature Callan McAuliffe, Laura Wheelwright, and Jordan Raskopoulos.

LaPaglia won a Tony for his performance in the 1997 Broadway revival of A View From the Bridge. His other stage credits include Lend Me a Tenor and The Rose Tattoo on Broadway, and The Guys, On the Open Road, and Northeast Local, Off-Broadway. Among his many film credits are Balibo, Winter Solstice, Lantana, and The Client. He may be best known for his Golden Globe Award-winning portrayal of Jack Malone on Without a Trace.

Griffiths recently made her Broadway debut in Other Desert Cities and has appeared onstage in Australian productions of Sylvia, The Doll House, and Proof. In addition, she received an Academy Award nomination for Hilary and Jackie, a Golden Globe, SAG Award, and two Emmy nominations for Six Feet Under, and two Emmy and three Golden Globe Award nominations for Brothers and Sisters.