Snowden | |
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Directed by | Oliver Stone |
Screenplay by |
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Based on |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Anthony Dod Mantle |
Edited by |
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Music by | Craig Armstrong |
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Distributed by | Open Road Films (United States) Universum Film/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Germany (Germany)[1] Pathé Distribution (France)[2] |
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Running time | 134 minutes[3] |
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Language | English |
Budget | $40 million[2][5] |
Box office | $37.3 million[2] |
Snowden is a 2016 biographical thriller film directed by Oliver Stone and written by Stone and Kieran Fitzgerald. Based on the books The Snowden Files (2014) by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus (2015) by Anatoly Kucherena, the film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Edward Snowden, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) subcontractor and whistleblower who copied and leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) beginning in 2013. In addition to Gordon-Levitt, the film features an ensemble cast including Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Scott Eastwood, Logan Marshall-Green, Timothy Olyphant, Ben Schnetzer, LaKeith Lee Stanfield, Rhys Ifans and Nicolas Cage. An international co-production of Germany, France, and the United States, principal photography began on February 16, 2015, in Munich.
Snowden screened at San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, 2016, before premiering at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2016. The film was theatrically released in the United States on September 16, 2016, by Open Road Films and on September 22 in Germany.[6] It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Gordon-Levitt's performance and said Stone's direction played it safe. It grossed $37.3 million worldwide against its $40 million budget.[2]