Entertainment

Oliver Stone Waited His Whole Life for This Moment

by Maitri Suhas

Oliver Stone is going to direct the film adaptation of The Snowden Files, because of course he is. The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man, is a book about Snowden written by Guardian reporter Luke Harding, and it focuses on how Snowden became an NSA whistleblower with the help of The Guardian's own Glenn Greenwald. "This is one of the greatest stories of our time," Stone told The Guardian. Stone is a lover of all things political and thrilling, which is perhaps why he's so damn successful when it comes to making a political thriller. His roster includes JFK, W., Nixon, World Trade Center, and Platoon. He also LOVES Edward Snowden.

Which is what makes this so interesting — Stone is one to take liberties with "history" as we know it, and that's his forte: making us question what is and isn't the truth. One might say that he's slightly a conspiracy theorist, especially if they have seen JFK. And knowing that Stone is such a Snowden fanboy (Stone called Snowden a hero), it's a fairly safe to bet that his version of the events of the NSA whistleblowing and Snowden's subsequent fleeing from America is going to render Snowden an American hero exposing the truth — a belief many Americans still uphold.

Making things tricky, though, is the OTHER Snowden biopic/thriller/opera that's in the works: the adaptation of Glenn Greenwald's book about the events. Granted, Greenwald was the journalist to whom Snowden first came with his secrets (I wonder where he hides them since his hair is so short), and Greenwald has also openly called Luke Harding's book "bullshit." Them's fighting words! So which truth about a man exposing the truth are we going to believe? Oliver Stone's, who will be working with Harding and other journalists from The Guardian, or Glenn Greenwald's, who was close to the man himself? And who is going to play Edward Snowden? Will Vladimir Putin make a cameo?

All we know is Oliver Stone is probably as giddy as a 67-year-old man can be; he LIVES for this kind of intrigue. Happy for you, Oliver.