The first trailer for Oliver Stone‘s (Nixon) highly anticipated dramatization of the Edward Snowden true whistle-blower story has finally hit the web with plenty of high stakes drama in tow. Snowden, adapted by Kieran Fitzgerald (The Homesman) from the Luke Harding book The Snowden Files, follows the real life story of the CIA-employee/NSA contractor who leaked thousands of classified government documents exposing the United States for spying on its own citizens.
Many already know the story, whether they follow the news or saw the Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour. That film featured exclusive interviews with Snowden in real time as he lived from hotel room to hotel room in Hawaii, China, and later Russia as he escaped prosecution from the US government.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer) portrays the eponymous public enemy number one in the film, with all the apparent intensity and affected voice required to get into the mindset of the man himself. Gordon-Levitt met with Snowden in Russia prior to filming. According to the actor,
I left knowing without a doubt that what [Snowden] did, he did because he believed it was the right thing to do, that he believed it would help the country he loves,” Gordon-Levitt said of Snowden. “Now, as he would say, it’s not for him to say whether it was right or wrong. That’s really for people to decide on their own, and I would encourage anybody to decide that on their own.
The film also stars Shailene Woodley (Divergent) as Snowden’s publicized girlfriend Lindsay Mills, in addition to Nicolas Cage (Adaptation), Timothy Olyphant (Perfect Getaway), Scott Eastwood (The Longest Ride), Tom Wilkinson (Unfinished Business), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Zachary Quinto (TV’s American Horror Story), and Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man).
Check out the trailer below. Open Road Films will release the project on September 16.
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