For his first appearance at San Diego Comic-Con, Oliver Stone told an audience at the convention’s biggest venue that he almost hadn’t been able to make his upcoming movie Snowden, based in part on Guardian journalist Luke Harding’s book about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, The Snowden Files.
I don’t believe there was an enemy such as the NSA lurking in the background but self-censorship is a huge issue in this industry.
With Gordon-Levitt, Stone and his co-writer Kieran Fitzgerald visited Snowden in Moscow to research and develop the film; Stone said he hadn’t wanted to make the movie at first because litigation has been such a problem when dealing with contemporary topics.
“Frankly, it was turned down by every major studio,” Stone told the audience.