New Joseph Gordon-Levitt film drops on Christmas

Jul 1, 2015 15:35 GMT  ·  By
"Snowden" biopic is directed by Oliver Stone, will premiere in December 2015
   "Snowden" biopic is directed by Oliver Stone, will premiere in December 2015

It’s summer, so that means that most major movie studios have kicked off promotion for their Oscar hopefuls. In most cases, as is the case of the Edward Snowden biopic, that means only the release of a short teaser.

Directed by Olivier Stone off a script for which he’s co-credited, “Snowden” will aim to shed some light on the reasons behind Snowden’s whistleblowing. Teasers and trailers are usually misleading, but assuming this one isn’t, it seems that the film will present Snowden as a misunderstood hero-type or at the very least a genius looking to do a good deed but taking a shortcut there.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as the titular character, with supporting performances by Shailene Woodley, Rhys Ifans, Zachary Quinto, Melissa Leo, Timothy Olyphant, Tom Wilkinson and Nicholas Cage.

The story 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, and will open in theaters on Christmas this year.

The end of the year is when most movies with Oscar potential arrive, so as to be eligible for nominations but also recently released so as to get the most push in a possible, future Oscar campaign.

Oliver Stone is no lightweight, so I’m guessing Open Road Pictures is hoping “Snowden” will be a heavy contender in the upcoming race.

One last word before you check out the first teaser: it doesn't really show any actual footage from the film, and that's a major shame, if you ask me.