Slashdot Mirror
Sony To Make Movie of Edward Snowden Story
wiredmikey (1824622) writes "Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired the rights to the new book by journalist Glenn Greenwald about fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, the studio said Wednesday. James Bond franchise producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli will make the movie version of 'No Place to Hide,' described as 'a political film that will resonate with today's moviegoers.' The book, subtitled 'Edward Snowden, the NSA and the US Surveillance State,' was just recently published in Britain by Hamish Hamilton and in the United States by Metropolitan Books."
Snowden just gave me a pre-release
Table-ized A.I.
Cash, baby!
This could be a good opportunity to wake up the populace to the very real threat to their liberty that mass surveillance is. Or it could just be a stupid "action" thriller that focusses on the wrong thing entirely - Snowden's flight. I'll reserve judgement, but my bet would be on the latter.
By itself, neat story, but not something I'd spend $15 to see. Now, add some gratuitous explosions and robots...
VO: "They wanted him dead. He wanted to live."
little girl holding a teddy bear: "Daddy, will the bad men come for you?"
Jean Claude Van Damme as Edward Snowden: "No, sweetie... not with my army they won't..."
Thousands of little robots come streaming out of his garage, destroying an FBI surveillance van...
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
Whether that makes me naive, stupid, or patriotic is unclear, which is fitting, since I think that's right where Edward is presently.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
what about an jack bauer beat down?
No. I hear Conchita Wurst will be play the lead.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
That actor who played Captain America needs to play Snowden!
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Holy shit, you gotta admire the self promotion and ego of this guy. Leave his reporter job because he might have to share stories with his colleagues, drip-drip-drip out the stores to keep yourself constantly in the news, quick-as-a-bunny get SOMETHING on Snowden out fast before that 15 minute train leaves the station, and sell movie rights. Dollars to donuts he's got a nice queue of stories lined up for pre-shooting, wrap-up, and probably some doozies during the ad lead-up for the release. And you can bet that all these "shocking" stories he releases will be EXACTLY like his other ones, breathless hyperbole bordering on lies to get the media splash before it turns out that the real details of the stories aren't quite as sordid as he made them out to be.
But, he's OUR snake oil salesman, so we love the guy!
I was thinking the same thing, however considering it is Sony I will have no interest in watching the movie. And I highly doubt the movie will be remotely accurate, movies like this are only about 10% close to what actually happened. I think there should be more then enough /. users that have seen these type of movies to know it will be nothing more then a atypical over-produced inaccurate 'based on real life events'.
I would be willing to bet they will not be showing a maintenance contractor stealing data from servers. But some unrealistic 'secret spy" who went rogue, pretty much killing off any chance at showing how someone without top level knowledge and training can break thru and expose the system.
So, is Greenwald gonna share any of the money with Snowden, or is he just going to laugh all the way to the bank while Snowden rots in Russia.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
No worse, I have read the plot for the film:
Mr. Snowden is a young man, likes to use Linux and uses open source web browsers.
Of course his love of open source software, lead him down a dangerous path.
First he installs pop-up blockers, and later falls in love with FireFox and Ad-Block.
But his willingness to hurt the economy doesn't stop there, he starts "experimenting" with Bit-Torrent and then becomes addicted to "MegaUpload.com".
After the authorities were hot on his trail and about to arrest him for piracy and supporting software that harms the US economy, he does yet another illegal download -- this time abusing his position as contract worker for the NSA (despite them paying him handsomely) -- and downloads essentially materials for survelliance of world-wide terrorists.
He then abruptly flies to Hong Kong, where many ripped DVDs are freely available because it is part of China as a natural instinct.
Realizing China has business relations with the US, he is forced to flee to Russia where copyright law isn't recognized (think of "allofmp3.com"), where he will free to do as many illegal downloads as he pleases.
This "True Story", despite being a documentary is copyright (C) 2014 Sony Corporation, All Rights Reserved.
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
Reminds me of Pablo Francisco
Seems a bit premature. What makes them think the Snowden story is over? ...or are they hoping for sequels?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
And I suppose you deserve neither liberty nor security.
Definitely will be #1 with a bullet in The Pirate Bay*...
(*) Unless the Pirate Bay has been blocked in your jurisdiction for your safety and to protect the children, citizen.
sounds like very hollywood...and I'd like to see some Bourne-style added too :)
(Snowden does NOT...) ...deserve a book, movie, or anything.
what about an jack bauer beat down?
Not sure if troll or droll political commentary.
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
... I don't predict a high amount of accuracy.
An Apple fanatic AND a libertarian?
That's a severe case of cognitive dissonance if I've ever heard one...
Like the Wiki leaks film, it'll basically be a type of COINTELPRO propaganda piece intended to frame the discussion around the leaks to suit the big media/corp/gov't agenda.
Well yeah, that's obviously a possibility. Although Greenwald seems to maintain a more or less positive relationship with Snowden, which is markedly different from the wikileaks film (which I didn't care for, though I still think Benedict Cumberbatch did pretty well) where Assange basically hated the script even before the movie was out.
Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
Or Unthinkable in which, after Samuel L Jackson tortures a guy for the whole film it turns out he didn't go far enough. Having slashed the detainees wife's throat before his eyes, they stopped short at doing same to his kids. Moral of the story, torture works but only as long as you're willing to go all the way. Sickening.
Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
Let's try it on some politicians. I always wanted to know who paid how much for what laws.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Considering the "success" of the Wikileaks movie, I'd say that no, America is not that dumb. But its leaders think it is.
Since Louis XVI did so, too, (though he thought that way about the French) there's still hope for some fun and excitement in the foreseeable future.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
...Did not seem too currently informed. Better try again.
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
I want to hear the George Hotz story
sag
I dunno. I think it can be good.... if directed by Michael Bay.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
It was a pretty awful film, with a pretty awful message. I remember an early scene where Jackson's character batters a fellow torturer for... enjoying it too much, or something.
As you say, Jackson's character kills the bad guy's wife... without giving him any forewarning. Doesn't that defeat the point? Tell me what I need to know or I'll kill your wife at least gives you leverage, but there's not much to be gained just outright killing her.
The film did at least cover that without an immediate way to verify claims, torture can yield false information. As you say though, the film really pushes the idea that the solution would have been more and better torture, because in letting up, they gave the bad guy time to regain his energy for resisting torture.... Pretty sure that no-one has ever lasted more than 3 minutes of waterboarding without 'breaking'.
I get the impression that entertainment like 24 has had a pretty dire effect on people's opinions on this stuff... (Unthinkable at least had the decency to be a genuinely awful film.)
I wonder if Sony appreciates that they try to be as much of a threat to privacy as does the NSA.
Hell, I strongly suspect Sony is a contributor to the NSAs data collection crap.
And they certainly employ the same tactics to bully people over copyright.
Because, Sony are collectively assholes.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Have gnu, will travel.
Well, the Assange flick (The Fifth Estate) was based on a book from a disgruntled former WikiLeaks guy's book. A book that was mostly a hate fest directed at Assange. What has been announced here is a film based on Glenn Greenwald's journalism, for which he won the Pulitzer this year. Huge difference, I reckon.
The Fifth Estate, The Social Network and Pirates Of Silicon Valley were good movies I enjoyed them. The Jobs movie I though was a terrible adaptation.
http://www.thetechnologygeek.org
Guess how one defines "dumb" and what the subject is. I would contend Americans are either dumb or apathetic. Especially when civil liberties are involved. Either way, you get the same result, inaction.
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire