With his work portraying Philippe Petit all but wrapped up, as Robert Zemeckis’ ambitious, biographical drama The Walk moves into post-production, star Joseph Gordon-Levitt has turned all of his attention to Oliver Stone’s upcoming biopic, Snowden. For the film, the actor is set to embody the controversial figure, and today Open Road Films has unveiled the first image of Gordon-Levitt on set looking ready for battle.
Snowden will tell the story of the titular whistleblower who once served his country before making headlines the world over after he leaked classified information to the NSA relating to PRISM, Internet security and much more. As a matter of fact, the former computer professional remains a prominent figure to this day thanks to Laura Poitras’ acclaimed drama, Citizenfour, which recently nabbed the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
But timing isn’t the only thing on the film’s side, as Stone has assembled quite the cast to flesh out his cinematic vision. It was only a couple of weeks ago when we learned of Nicolas Cage and Rhys Ifans’ involvement in Snowden, which now boasts an ensemble cast that includes Insurgent‘s Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Joely Richardson and Timothy Olyphant.
In transitioning the groundbreaking story to screen, it’s understood that Oliver Stone will pull inspiration from Anatoly Kucherena’s Time of the Octopus, along with various news reports and factual documents. Mind you, given how poorly audiences took to the recent Julian Assange docu-drama, The Fifth Estate, it will be interesting to see whether Stone and Co. can serve up a compelling story that doesn’t just interest a select few.
Open Road Films is primed to release Oliver Stone’s Snowden on Christmas Day.