It might seem a little strange to feature a trailer for Oliver Stone’s Snowden as one of the big previews on the first day of Comic-Con International in San Diego, but the audience for Comic-Con goes well beyond superheroes and sci-fi these days.
Open Road Films premiered the new trailer for Snowden during a Thursday panel at the convention, and both Stone and leading man Joseph Gordon-Levitt were on hand to introduce the latest look at the upcoming biopic of Edward Snowden, the former U.S. national security contractor who leaked classified information about the country’s surveillance of citizens’ private information.
Written and directed by Stone (Platoon, JFK), Snowden is based on Russian attorney Anatoly Kucherena’s novel Time of the Octopus — about his time working with Snowden in Russia, where he still serves as his legal representation — and Luke Harding’s novel The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man. Gordon-Levitt (Looper) portrays Snowden in the film, which follows his life and career leading up to and following his decision to leak classified information about the American government’s surveillance of its citizens, and his time spent in Russia while attempting to receive asylum and avoid extradition to the U.S.
Divergent franchise star Shailene Woodley plays Snowden’s girlfriend, who currently lives with him in Russia. The cast is filled out by Oscar-winning actress Melissa Leo (The Fighter), as well as Zachary Quinto (Star Trek Into Darkness), Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton), Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man), Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Scott Eastwood (Gran Torino), and Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas).
Snowden is currently scheduled to hit theaters September 16.
