The actor, writer and director Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been cast to play NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in the Oliver Stone-directed flick 'The Snowden Files.' The 33 year-old star has been connected to the role since September, but the film's backers confirmed this casting news on Monday (11th).

Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Gordon-Levitt will portray Edward Snowden 

According to Reuters, the controversial film, which will depict how the former National Security Agency contractor released classified documents concerning numerous global surveillance programs, will begin production in Munich in January.

Stone, who won the best director Oscar for 'Platoon,' has written the screenplay based on Guardian journalist Luke Harding's 'The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man,' and 'Time of the Octopus' by Snowden's lawyer Anatoly Kucherena.

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Snowden garnered global attention after leaking thousands of classified d intelligence documents to the media in 2013, many of which were run by the NSA. He has been on the run ever since, and currently lives in an undisclosed location in Russia after being granted a three-year resident permit, which has created tension between the two nations.

Gordon-Levitt will be the first person to portray Snowden in a feature film, but most likely won't be the last as Sony Pictures acquired rights to Pulitzer-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald's book 'No Place To Hide: Edward Snowden, The NSA, And The U.S. Surveillance State.'

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The multitalented actor last starred in 'Sin City: A Dame To Kill For,' and will next be seen playing French high-wire artist Philippe Petit in the forthcoming biopic 'The Walk.'