Like Michael Mann back in 2014, Oliver Stone is an unlikely person to be bringing a project to Comic-Con. But when you've got Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley and Zachary Quinto among your main cast, and a hot-button topic, we suppose it makes sense. Stone debuted a new trailer, which appears on the IMDB and can be watched below.
The movie chronicles the experiences of Snowden (Gordon-Levitt), the military man-turned-whistleblowing National Security Agency contractor who began leaking classified documents to former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald (Quinto) in June 2013. Snowden, currently stuck in Russia after the US cancelled his passport, has become a polarising figure between those – such as the director himself – who consider him a patriotic hero, and those who feel he’s a traitor.
At the panel, Stone recounted how every studio turned down the chance to make the movie despite the director's reputation and history with controversial subjects. And even he wasn't sure about taking on the movie, concerned that Snowden's story is still being told. “I didn’t want to do this at the beginning,” he said. “You get beat up, current event movies get you killed. Protagonists often turn on you, especially in rock movies.” Still, Snowden's tale stuck a chord. “He’s going through a painful, personal story,” said Stone. “He was only 29 when he did this enormous thing. And in our two years together, he’s never wilted in the face of opposition.”
For Gordon-Levitt, it was a chance to do something more granular. “I was trying to get to know him on a different level,” he said. “He’s like an old-fashioned gentleman, really warm and an optimist about the future of technology. I’ve been dying to ask him if he’s cool with what I’ve done with my voice.” The CIA has probably already recorded his thoughts anyway.
Given the subject matter, the topic of privacy came up quickly, and Stone voiced an objection to the current hot trend for people running around playing Pokemon Go, and not because he's having trouble finding a Mewtwo. "It's not really funny, because what you're saying is on the money. It's a new level of invasion," he commented after Quinto encouraged the audience to look up from their phones once in a while. His main concern is data mining: "It's everywhere. You'll see a new form of, frankly, a robot society...It's what they call totalitarianism."
Snowden will arrive in US cinemas this September, but has yet to secure a UK release.