Written by on Nov 12, 2014. Posted in On Location

Oliver Stone and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to film Edward Snowden movie in Munich

Filmmaker Oliver Stone will shoot in Munich, Germany, for a movie based on the story of former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden. Actor and filmmaker Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play the analyst who leaked secret government documents to the world's media.

The as-yet untitled film will be based on two separate books recounting how Snowden leaked US government records of global surveillance operations.

He escaped the US authorities by travelling first to Hong Kong and then to Russia, where he was eventually offered asylum. Snowden’s activities amount to the largest-scale leak of classified documents in a generation and have polarised opinion around the world.

Germany's film industry has had a series of recent profile boosts hosting George Clooney’s World War II drama The Monuments Men, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and a remake of the cult extreme sports movie Point Break. All three used stages at Studio Babelsberg near Berlin.

Most recently, Steven Spielberg has been directing Tom Hanks in his Cold War drama St. James Place, which has also used Studio Babelsberg as a base.

Studio Babelsberg recently started work on a new back lot set that will expand the facilities available to filmmakers. The Neue Berliner Straße – or New Berlin Road – will be a 12,000 sq m “modular hybrid set” offering moveable classical street facades and extensive green screens.

Germany has had a series of recent profile boosts hosting George Clooney’s World War II drama The Monuments Men and Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.

“A permanent exterior set was always an important element in Babelsberg's attractiveness as a location,” said Studio Babelsberg head Charlie Woebcken when the expansion was first announced.

“We will meet the current artistic and technological demands with the Neue Berliner Straße and hope that the new offer will enable us to continue to acquire both German and international TV, advertising and feature film productions.”

(Image: Relativity Media)