There are three WikiLeaks projects in the works. When did this become the hottest story in Hollywood?

Image Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/Getty ImagesEverybody’s hungry for a piece of the WikiLeaks pie, apparently.

At the moment, there’s a biopic about the controversial site’s founder Julian Assange in the works, an HBO film in development, and Universal Pictures is funding a documentary. My question for you, PopWatchers, is: Are you really that interested in this story?

Hollywood execs certainly seem to think you are, and I have to admit there are several points of interest to this story — not the least of which is Assange himself, one of the most wanted men in the world. One producer of the biopic (quoted in Variety), Barry Josephson (who works on Bones), even compared an upcoming biography on Assange to All the President’s Men, saying it was “this generation’s suspenseful drama with global impact.”

I would hesitantly agree with that, keeping in mind that the story of Watergate had been rolling toward a conclusion when the book based on the event was released in 1974, the same year President Richard Nixon resigned. And the movie (still one of my all-time favorites) wasn’t released until 1976. Note that history was allowed to unravel before Hollywood stepped in. I like that.

My guess, based on the ever-changing twists of this WikiLeaks story, is that filmmakers won’t have the luxury of a neatly wrapped conclusion. And that’s okay. My annoyance lies in the fact that the real-life story is pretty intriguing on its own, and before we have a chance to watch a rather historical story unravel in the news, it is being regurgitated. I’d like a grace period — but that’s just me. Maybe we do need three takes on the life and works of Julian Assange right away. Personally, I’ll probably wait until he and the name “WikiLeaks” stops appearing in the papers every week before checking any of them out — unless someone casts Robert Redford.

What about you, PopWatchers? Too much WikiLeaks too fast? Or more, please?