14 DAY TRIAL // It’s been rumored for a while, but now it’s become official – Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play Edward Snowden in the movie directed by Oliver Stone about the most famous whistleblower in history.
The screenplay for the movie is based on two books, namely “The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man” by Luke Harding, and “Time of the Octopus,” by Anatoly Kucherena, Snowden’s Russian lawyer.
Moritz Borman, the film’s producer, said in a statement that he and Stone had chosen independent studio Open Road Films and production and financing company Endgame Entertainment because the film needed to be truly independent, with no political pressure whatsoever.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play the main role of Edward Snowden. He has played important roles over the past few years, including in “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Inception,” and “10 Things I Hate About You” and more. He also had a main role in 90’s TV series “3rd Rock from the Sun.”
Other names have not yet been revealed for the cast, although there are several rumors running around. Oliver Stone has won many awards during his career, including three Oscars, even though the nomination list is considerably more extensive.
Following the NSA scandal that started last year, there’ve been talks about numerous movies based on Snowden’s story, although few seem to pan out. “Citizenfour” by Laura Poitras was recently released, but it’s a documentary featuring the actual Edward Snowden.
The beginning of the Snowden saga
In June 2013, Edward Snowden released a bunch of documents to the media, straight from the NSA’s cache of documents, revealing the extensive mass surveillance mechanism that it has spent years putting together, alongside its international partners.
The files have revealed the fact that there are very few things keeping the NSA in check and that even when it has rules it should follow, it often disregards them.
In order to share the files, the whistleblower traveled to Hong Kong, where he met with Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald, sharing the trove of files and explaining the severity of it all. Shortly after the first articles were published, Snowden revealed his identity, a move that was supposed to not only put a face on the issue, but also to protect him.
As he tried to fly across the world on his way to Cuba, Snowden’s passport got canceled and he became stuck in the transit area of an airport in Moscow, for a month, until he was offered temporary asylum in the country.
He’s been living in Russia ever since then, but has made a point out of showing up via video conference to various events across the world.