Entertainment

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Rumored To Star In Edward Snowden Film

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is rumored to be playing the fugitive whistleblower in the upcoming Oliver Stone film, "The Snowden Files."

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Rumored To Star In Edward Snowden Film
Getty Images / Rob Kim
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It looks like Joseph Gordon-Levitt might be playing whistleblower and fugitive Edward Snowden in the upcoming biopic from director Oliver Stone.

Deadline first reported the news that Gordon-Levitt is likely to play the title character in the film based on the book, "The Snowden Files: The Inside Story Of The World's Most Wanted Man."

Edward Snowden is of course the man who leaked thousands of classified documents on U.S. surveillance in June 2013. 

The film's source material was written by Luke Harding, a journalist who helped cover Snowden for The Guardian. A summary used to promote the book called Snowden "an extraordinary man."

The U.S. government sees him as a traitor, but others hail him as a hero. The Los Angeles Times writes that, given Stone's political leanings, his film will likely portray Snowden positively.

This is the kind of film that seems right up Stone's ally. 

His catalog includes a host of politically charged dramas, such as "JFK," the story about the Kennedy assassination, and "Platoon," his critically-acclaimed film on the Vietnam War. 

Stone's production is actually one of two films being made about Snowden.

The other is based on freelance journalist Glenn Greenwald's book "No Place to Hide" and is backed by the producers of the James Bond franchise.

But The Guardian writes that Stone's film is expected to hit screens before Greenwald's.

Production on "The Snowden Files" is scheduled to begin in December.

This video includes images from Getty Images.