Joseph Gordon-Levitt Takes on the NSA in First Trailer for Oliver Stone's 'Snowden'

Will the classic Stone touch work wonders for the story of Edward Snowden?

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The story of NSA whistleblowerEdward Snowden is getting the Oliver Stone treatment. After teasing everyone with a laughably info-free glimpse of Snowden last year, Open Road caved and unloaded a proper trailer on Wednesday. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Snowden, with Star Trek alum Zachary Quinto as journalist Glenn Greenwald and Shailene Woodley as Snowden's significant other, Lindsay Mills.

The film, as noted by the Hollywood Reporter, was initially set for a December 2015 release but was pushed back until May of this year. Then, for reasons not entirely clear, Snowden was pushed back again to Sept. 16. Based on the books The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man and Time of the Octopus, Snowden also stars Nicolas Cage (!), Melissa Leo, Tom Wilkinson, and Rhys Ifans.

To prepare for the role, Joseph Gordon-Levitt actually had the opportunity of spending four hours with the real Snowden. "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 revealed to the Guardian in September. "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."

In February, the Guardianquoted Snowden as saying he had actually told American authorities he was willing to come back with the promise of a fair trial. "I've told the government I would return if they would guarantee a fair trial where I can make a public interest defense of why this was done and allow a jury to decide," Snowden told the New Hampshire Liberty Forum during a Google Hangouts speech. Snowden, of course, has been living in Russia since June 2013.

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