Levitt plays the titular role in the movie that releases in US theatres today. PHOTO: FILE
The actor, who achieved fame as a child actor in television series 3rd Rock from the Sun, said that by playing the character, he hoped to understand his motivations. “I was trying to figure out why he did what he did, what was going on in his head,” he said. “One of the questions everyone asks is, ‘Why didn’t he just, you know, voice his concerns through proper channels?’”
The film leads up to the events of 2013, when Edward Snowden fled the United States after exposing the government’s mass surveillance programs. The US government filed espionage charges against Snowden and he was granted asylum in Russia, where he has lived since, with his girlfriend Lindsay Mills.
Gordon-Levitt said he related to Snowden’s disillusionment with the US government after watching National Intelligence director James Clapper deny, before a congressional committee, that the NSA was collecting records on millions of Americans. “If the director of National Intelligence is being asked by a senator under oath, ‘Hey, is this happening?’ and he’s telling a lie, well, then, what is some guy that works at the NSA going to accomplish by complaining through proper channels?” the actor said.
Tech-savvy Gordon-Levitt, who said he donated his fee for the film to the American Civil Liberties Union, is the founder of HitRecord, an online collaborative creative hub that brings together artists from around the world. He said he tended to be optimistic about new technology but the movie made him more aware of its negative aspects.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2016.
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