Actress Shailene Woodley is reportedly in talks to play infamous US whistleblower Edward Snowden's girlfriend in a new Oliver Stone film.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been cast to play the former technical contractor and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee in The Snowden Files.

If the Divergent star accepts the role, she will play Lindsay Mills, a dancer who recently moved to Moscow to live with exiled Snowden.

The film will be based on his Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena's novel Time Of The Octopus.

Snowden was charged with committing espionage against America after confessing to leaking confidential information on mass surveillance operations undertaken by the US and UK government officials on their own citizens.

The Stone movie is slated to begin filming in Munich, Germany in January.

This isn't the only Snowden film in development - James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli is also working on a movie about the 30 year old, based on journalist Glenn Greenwald's book, No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the US Surveillance State.

WENN.com

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Shailene Woodley to play Snowden's girlfriend?

Oliver Stone reportedly wants Joseph Gordon-Levitt to star in his movie about NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

That's right, Oliver Stone is making a movie about a hideous Orwellian conspiracy that will make us all fear for our lives. Go figure.

Reports said Monday that Stone, who is writing, directing and producing the film, has made it known he wants Levitt in the starring role, although negotiations have not started yet. Levitt has not commented on the matter but sources have said he is keenly interested.

Stone's movie will be adapted from two books, Rolling Stone reports: "Time of the Octopus," a novel written by Snowden's attorney, Anatoly Kucherena, and "The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man," written by journalist Luke Harding. Filming is slated to start late this year.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is said to be director Oliver Stone's first choice to play Edward Snowden in a film about the NSA whistle-blower. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/Files (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT HEADSHOT ( ANDREW KELLY )

Snowden, a former intelligence analyst for the U.S. leaked thousands of classified government documents detailing NSA global surveillance programs, among other matters, to media outlets. Snowden, who could face a 30-year-prison sentence if convicted of spying charges in the U.S., is seeking asylum in the European Union while living in an unknown location in Russia.

Stone has praised Snowden as a "hero."

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt eyed for Edward Snowden film

Joseph Gordon-Levitt to play Edward Snowden
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been confirmed to play NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden in the new Oliver Stone film. http://bit.ly/atHollywoodSub Watch More of Our Shows! The Voice Season...

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By Siobhan Lyons November 12

Siobhan Lyons is a tutor in Media and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University.

In writing, music, photography and other areas, outdated technologies have initially been valued for their retro, nostalgic appeal in the hipster culture. Vinyl is one of the most notable technologies to have achieved a noticeable revival, not only for its retro value but also for its superior sound quality.

Now people are seeing the security benefits of returning to other so-called anachronistic technologies. Typewriters, for instance, are experiencing a revival in politics. Earlier this year, German politician Patrick Sensburg announced that Germanys government officials might start using typewriters, as they are seen as being an unhackable technology.

While this move might be viewed as somewhat regressive, its actually progressive. Let me explain.

Following last years NSA leaks, the Russian government is also set to return to typewriters in an effort to avoid hacking. Nikolai Kovalev, former head of the Federal Security Service, said in 2013: From the point of view of keeping secrets, the most primitive method is preferred: a human hand with a pen or a typewriter.

Initially considered obsolete in the digital age, typewriters are experiencing a slow but noticeable resurgence.

In 2009, the New York Police Department spent nearly $1 million on manual and electric typewriters. This year, The Times in London erected a speaker to produce the sound of typewriters in an effort to boost staff energy levels, which coincides with a revival of interest in the typewriter.

The Guardian editorialized last year:

Type a document and lock it away and more or less the only way anyone else can get it is if you give it to them. This is why the Russians have decided to go back to typewriters in some government offices, and why in the US, some departments have never abandoned them.

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Typewriters are back, and we have Edward Snowden to thank ...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play one of the most polarizing figures in recent history.

The Don Jon actor has been tapped to play Edward Snowden in an Oliver Stone movie about the infamous NSA whistle-blower, the films producers confirmed to The Guardian on Monday. Gordon-Levitt, 33, was reportedly the Platoon directors first choice for the role.

The film will be was based on two books: The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the Worlds Most Wanted Man by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena.

The movie, which does not yet have a title, will chronicle Snowdens saga as a National Security Agency whistle-blower. In 2013, he leaked classified proof that the U.S. government had been spying on its own people.

After fleeing the United States, Snowden was granted asylum in Russia, where the 31-year-old still lives today.

The film is scheduled to start production in Munich in January, according to Open Road Films and financing company Endgame Entertainment.

This is one of the greatest stories of our time," the 67-year-old director said in Juneafter signing on to direct the film.

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt to portray Edward Snowden - NY Daily News

Shailene Woodley, who picked up a Hollywood Film Award last night for The Fault In Our Stars, is reportedly in talks with the producers of Oliver Stones untitled Edward Snowden movie for a key role.

The Divergent star would play Snowdens girlfriend, The Hollywood Reporter reported. TheWrap also confirmed the news.

Snowdens longtime girlfriend, Lindsay Mills, recently moved to Moscow, where Snowden is living after Russia granted him asylum. As previously reported Joseph Gordon-Levitt is set to play Snowden, the NSA whistle-blower.

Stones film will be based on material from two books - Luke Hardings The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the Worlds Most Wanted Man and Time of the Octopus, a novel by Anatoly Kucherena, the lawyer representing Snowden in Russia.

The Platoon filmmakers plot is expected to center on Snowdens journey from Hawaii to Hong Kong, where he first gave journalist Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras the top-secret NSA documents.

Open Road is set to distribute the film domestically. Wild Bunch handled foreign rights at the American Film Market last week. Filming is expected to start in January.

Woodley had a fantastic 2014, starring in both Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars. While she has been working on the sequels to Divergent, she hadnt been linked to any other new project until now.

image courtesy of Kristin Callahan/ACE/INFphoto.com

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Shailene Woodley could play Edward Snowden's girlfriend for Oliver Stone

Citizenfour Four stars out of five

Starring: Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Ewan MacAskill, Jeremy Scahill, Julian Assange

Directed by: Laura Poitras

Running time: 114 minutes

Its probably the most opaque operation ever conducted on a global stage, which is why Laura Poitrass clarity is such an asset: She simply records Edward Snowden as he drops the bomb. Sitting in his Hong Kong hotel room in early June 2013, the documentary filmmaker turns on the camera alongside Guardian reporters Glenn Greenwald and Ewan MacAskill, and lets Snowden tell his story.

At this point, we know what that story is: Big Brother is watching us. The National Security Agency is involved in global surveillance programs that potentially violate privacy laws in the name of national security.

When the story first appeared, it was difficult to really understand the dimensions of these revelations, in part, because we all recognize the vulnerability of wireless communication thanks to tabloids, tampons and Prince Charles.

The idea that U.S. authorities may want to intercept terrorist communiqus with a little illegal eavesdropping seems unforgivably reasonable, given that anyone with a desire and a little know-how can spy on anyone with a wifi device. Yet, in watching Snowden explain the depth and darkness of what he was doing while working for Booz Allen Hamilton, a private contractor with the NSA, we begin to feel the weight of what we are bearing witness to, and the whole story starts to feel uncomfortably personal.

Sitting on the bed with this intelligent, articulate, and moderately goofy computer genius who has been charged on two counts of espionage, the viewer sees the whole Snowden traitor spin start to melt away, and in its place we perceive a young man who felt it was important to take a moral stand. Moreover, from what we can see and hear, he did it entirely without ego and from an emotional perspective, thats the argument Snowden had to win in order to convince the viewer of everything else that follows.

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Movie review: Citizenfour brings context to Snowden story

Director Laura Poitras' virtuosic documentary "Citizenfour" is a riveting, on-the-ground retelling of the story of NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

By now, most of us know the basics of the Snowden story. He was the high-level systems analyst for National Security Agency contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, who, in 2013, leaked classified documents to journalists in an effort to shine a light on the U.S. government's fast-growing surveillance apparatus.

The resulting controversy saw Snowden alternately characterized as a hero and a traitor. His legacy is complex, and until now it has been difficult to know what to think of him. But Poitras' film -- which gets its title from a codename Snowden used in his encrypted communications with the filmmaker -- goes a long way toward clearing it up.

That's because she gives us Snowden's side of the story, in full and for the first time. It's remarkable stuff, as Poitras' cameras spend eight days with Snowden. (For the record, he is currently living in Moscow as a guest of the Russian government.)

"Citizenfour" is very much a historical document, but one that plays like a Tom Clancy thriller.

Perhaps its real value, however, is in the way it helps viewers wrap their arms around what is a sprawling story. They may be terrified by what they learn about their government and its efforts to turn its surveillance apparatus on its own citizens.

That, Snowden explains, includes collection of cell phone data, phone conversations, GPS information from cellular devices -- and, yes, even listening through telephones that are on the hook.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Mike Scott, New Orleans Times Picayune/Nola.com

Citizenfour

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'Citizenfour': Edward Snowden documentary is riveting (review)

Bill Goodykoontz, Gannett 11:03 p.m. CST November 13, 2014

Edward Snowden and his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills, in Citizenfour. (Photo: Special to the Register )

"Citizenfour" captures history in the making.

That may sound like an exaggeration, but it isn't. Director Laura Poitras takes her camera to Hong Kong, where she and investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald meet with a whistle-blower who will, even during the course of the making of the film, go from anonymous to world famous (or infamous, in some circles): Edward Snowden.

Snowden, the former National Security Association contractor, starts talking about the U.S. government's surveillance of its citizens and its repeated lies to cover it up, and never really stops.

The story Snowden tells is, of course, absorbing, disturbing and, yes, scary. Poitras' film, playing out as more and more is revealed, reported and published, comes off like a real-life spy thriller, only without a James Bond-type hero in the mix. Just a nerdy guy in glasses who at one point hides under a blanket while typing passwords.

Fitting, because what is especially fascinating is Snowden himself. Using the name Citizenfour, Snowden contacted Poitras and asked her to contact Greenwald. He had a lot of information to share.

Snowden has been called a traitor, but here he comes off as a decent man trying to do the right thing, if however awkwardly (or illegally). He's obviously smart and practically bursting at the seams to get his story out. At first he says he is unconcerned with the consequences, but as the furor grows over his revelations and his methods, that changes. He goes from confident to paranoid.

Or does he? Just because you're paranoid, so the bumper stickers say, doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

And make no mistake: They were out to get Snowden after the stories began appearing. So a glance at a telephone receiver in the Hong Kong hotel room where he begins his conversations with Poitras and Greenwald (and Guardian reporter Ewen MacAskill) quickly turns into Snowden explaining how new technology allows for outsiders to listen in through such a device, even when it's still on the hook at which point a light goes off above Snowden's head as he realizes that could be happening as he speaks.

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'Citizenfour' tells Snowden's absorbing, disturbing story

Jacob Appelbaum Interview - Discusses Edward Snowden, The NSA, TOR, WikiLeaks
Jacob Appelbaum Interview - Discusses Edward Snowden, The NSA, TOR, WikiLeaks. In this interview we see Jacob Appelbaum discuss some of the recent developmen...

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