Watch: The New Trailer for Oliver Stone's Biopic of Edward Snowden

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Edward Snowden. (Screenshot)

Watch: The New Trailer for Oliver Stone's Biopic of Edward Snowden

'Run, hide, live to tell the truth'

The first trailer for Snowden, Oliver Stone's biopic of whistleblower Edward Snowden was released on Wednesday, offering a glimpse of the forthcoming film that depicts Snowden's entry into the National Security Agency (NSA), his 2013 release of mass surveillance documents, and his subsequent escape to Hong Kong.

Watch:

The film covers similar ground as Citizenfour, the 2014 documentary chronicling the fallout of Snowden's revelations, which was directed by Laura Poitras, one of the journalists who helped report on the documents, along with Glenn Greenwald. Citizenfour received the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2015.

All three are depicted in the film, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Snowden, Melissa Leo as Poitras, and Zachary Quinto as Greenwald. The film also stars Tom Wilkinson as Ewen MacAskill, the Guardian journalist who also traveled to Hong Kong to meet with Snowden and report on the leaks.

Please donate now - we're coming up short

In the trailer, Snowden is shown being discharged from the army due to an injury and subsequently joining the NSA to "help my country make a difference in the world."

He is also shown taking an SD card loaded with government secrets out of the NSA building by hiding it under the tile of a Rubik's cube, perhaps a reference to a message he sent to Poitras ahead of their real-life rendezvous in Hong Kong: "We will meet in the hallway outside of the restaurant in the Mira Hotel. I will be working on a Rubik's cube so that you can identify me."

(In reality, he simply put the files on a USB thumb drive and walked out of the building.)

Snowden watched the trailer, too.

"Run, hide, live to tell the truth," the trailer states.

Snowden is set for release on September 16.

Join Us: News for people demanding a better world


Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place.

We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference.

Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Join with us today!

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.