The actor, who will be seen as Snowden in Oliver Stone's movie, said the notorious government contractor was 'warm, kind and thoughtful.'
- Sep 19, 2015
AceShowbiz - Joseph Gordon-Levitt was among a few people who got to know Edward Snowden in person. The actor portrays the NSA whistleblower in Oliver Stone's "Snowden" and was lucky to meet him in a Russian secret hideout as part of the research.
"[I was] wanting to understand this person that I was going to play, observing both his strengths and his weaknesses," the actor told The Guardian. "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 described Snowden as "warm, kind and thoughtful" and was "in good spirits" during their four-hour meeting. He added, "Certainly there was that note, that he very much would like to come home. He doesn't want to live in Russia at all."
The actor was actually prohibited by Snowden's lawyers to talk about the meeting, let alone record the conversation. Giving a little insight on what they talked about, Gordon-Levitt said, "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. I don't want to be the actor guy who's like, 'You should listen to me! What he did was right!' I don't think that's my place. Even though that is what I believe - that what he did was right."
"Snowden" is yet to get a new release date in 2016 after bumped out of its Christmas 2015 release. Gordon-Levitt therefore lost the chance to enter the Oscar race held early next year.
