In a packed Hall H at Comic-Con 2016, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley and Zachary Quinto described meeting the people who they play in the new movie “Snowden.” Moderator Chris Hardwick asked the actors to describe how these meetings impacted playing Glenn Greenwald (journalist from The Guardian), Lindsay Mills (Edward Snowden’s girlfriend) and Edward Snowden. The room stood still hearing these stories.
Zachary Quinto, who was also at Comic-Con for the “Star Trek Beyond” world premiere, described meeting investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald. Zachary shared, “I actually met Glenn not in conjunction with this movie … I met him before this whole thing happened actually. We didn’t have a chance to connect personally, but I refer back to the fact that there is so much writing and expression that he’s put out there. I didn’t have any shortage of material to dive into to get a sense of his character and his perspective.”
Shailene Woodley, who we’ve seen at Comic-Con for the “Divergent” series, explained this role was the first time she played a character based on someone “in real life.” Shailene described their first meeting, “I met Lindsay Mills, Ed’s girlfriend, when we were filming in Washington, D.C. about three quarters of the way through the movie … We sort of based the character around what we knew from her past social media and things we knew about her career life … When I met her, I remember thinking I wish I met her beforehand because there were small mannerisms and there were quirks that make her unique … that I would have implemented into the movie. For me, I wanted her approval.”
Chris then asked Joseph to explain how you logistically meet Edward Snowden when he lives in Russia. Fans learned that Joseph actually traveled to Moscow to meet Edward Snowden with Oliver Stone and Co-Writer Kieran Fitzgerald.
Joseph expanded on this experience, “I got to sit with Ed and Lindsay … for four hours … I was trying get to know him on a different level because I can read about his politics. I wanted to just understand who he was. We got to sit down and have a meal. I think you can tell a lot about a person just by how they are when you sit and eat with them.”
After meeting Edward Snowden, Joseph described him as a very polite “old-fashioned gentleman” from North Carolina. He added that Edward is an “optimist” about how technology can improve democracy, which Joseph also connects too.
Joseph and Zachary were also able to research their roles by watching the Academy Award-winning Best Documentary “Citizenfour” by Director Laura Poitras. In this film, Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald are seen as the first meetings were held in Hong Kong.
To promote the new film, the team handed out band-aids with 9-16-16 to Comic-Con fans in Hall H and all around the San Diego Convention Center. Look for Oliver Stone’s “Snowden” in theaters this September 16, 2016, and follow all of our Comic-Con coverage @LizHKelly.