The Untitled Oliver Stone/Edward Snowden Project is now set to court controversy as Open Road Films and Endgame Entertainment are partnering for the U.S. release, with rumored front-runner Joseph Gordon-Levitt now confirmed to play the NSA whistleblower.
Written and directed by three-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone (Platoon, JFK), the script is based on the books “The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man” by Luke Harding and “Time of the Octopus” by Anatoly Kucherena. The latter book mainly deals with former information analyst Snowden’s time in Russia hoping to get asylum while the United States was demanding his extradition to potentially face jail time for leaking classified information.
The film is being produced by Moritz Borman and Eric Kopeloff, with production scheduled to kick-off in Munich in January 2015.
“After working with Oliver on ‘W’ I am thrilled to be back in business with him, along with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the filmmmaking team and Endgame Entertainment, on this exciting project,” stated Open Road CEO Tom Ortenberg,
Borman added: “Oliver and I were overwhelmed by the reaction to the screenplay from all quarters but, in the end, the enthusiasm from Tom & Jim and the distribution case they made, convinced us that the film would be in the perfect hands. This film needs an independent in the true sense, where political pressures will not come into play.”
