Edward Snowden Story to be Directed by Oliver Stone

The story is still unfolding and doesn’t seem to have a resolution any time soon – this being about Edward Snowden, the notorious and controversial leaker of thousands of NSA documents that primarily blew the cover on a domestic spying program in the United States – but that doesn’t stop Oscar winner Oliver Stone from going after it as the topic of his next film, according to .

Of course for Stone, at least as of late, hot-button topics have particularly struck his fancy since 2006’s World Trade Center.   Following that have been W. about the life and times and mishaps of President Bush, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps about the financial collapse of 2008, and Savages about the complexities of the drug trade in Mexico.

And being the director of the recent series The Untold History of the United States, which examined the un-reported (or under-reported) stories of the government in the 20th into 21st century, the revelations from Snowden about the NSA surveillance program, which ultimately has caused policy changes in president Obama’s strategies at counter-terrorism, this material, and the character of Snowden obviously, would interest him.

“This is one of the greatest stories of our time,” said Stone in a statement.  “A real challenge. I’m glad to have the Guardian working with us.”  The Guardian and Glen Greenwald, of course, were the ones who first published the information via Snowden.  Guardian’s editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger added: “The story of Edward Snowden is truly extraordinary, and the unprecedented revelations he brought to light have forever transformed our understanding of, and relationship with, government and technology. We’re delighted to be working with Oliver Stone and [Stone’s producing partner] Moritz Borman on the film.”

Although Greenwald has been the sort of public face in defending Snowden, as he is currently in Russia (although the 29 year old had a recent sit-down interview with Brian Williams), the story for Stone’s film will be taken by the recent book “The Snowden Files: The Inside Story Of The World’s Most Wanted Man” by Guardian journalist Luke Harding (Pulitzer Prize winner on the case).  Actually, Sony is also currently planning their own Snowden movie based on Greenwald’s book, “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State.”  No one is attached yet on that film, though Barbara Broccoli of the James Bond series is set to produce.

It doesn’t sound to be, from the looks of it, that un-biased – Stone has been famously a champion of Americans who actively challenged the government’s perspective, from Salvador to Born on the Fourth of July to the Oscar-winning JFK – it could be a compelling feature just based on the material, which has the makings of a suspense thriller.   Stone has been attached for some time to make a Martin Luther King bio-pic, but that would seem to be going by the wayside as Snowden is still highly relevant in the public consciousness.

Interested?  Any strong opinions either way on Mr. Snowden?  Let us know on Twitter @ or in the comments.  And who knows may be watching…