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Sony To Make Movie of Edward Snowden Story

Posted by samzenpus on from the leaks-camera-action! dept.

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."

20 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Got it! by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Snowden just gave me a pre-release

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Got it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Watching the Sony movie installs a new backdoor onto your computer, to be sure you have the digital rights to all Sony movies.

    2. Re:Got it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I wonder if the previous poster realizes this is actually true.

  2. Reserved Judgement by GrahamCox · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Reserved Judgement by AdamColley · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Heh

      Remember Takedown?

      Accuracy will be the first thing to go in the name of artistic license.

    2. Re:Reserved Judgement by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Perhaps you don't understand how it works. Accuracy is not important if it gets people exercised about their rights being violated by the government. If you want accuracy, you go to a journalist. If you want agitprop, you go to a filmmaker.

      And I'm not using "agitprop" as a negative.

      The surveillance state is growing so powerful so quickly, nothing short of a lot of people making this their number one issue can possibly stop it. I don't care if the movie takes shortcuts or glosses over details, as long as it changes some minds.

      Of course, if Sony's in charge, it could easily paint Snowden as History's Greatest Monster and be nothing more than a commercial for how great it is to have a bunch of g-men upskirting your private communications.

      Tell you one thing, though. Just the fact that Sony's making a movie means that some people who've ignored the whole issue up to now will get to know something about what happened. If it forces them to go look up some sources and find out just what kind of wolf-in-sheep's clothing the Obama Administration turned out to be, it will be worth it. Maybe it'll stop another authoritarian corporatist (Hillary) from becoming president. If a few things break right, we could end up throwing the elections of 2016 up for grabs, which could only be a good thing. If it gets people to go out into the streets, it would be a great thing.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:Reserved Judgement by Charliemopps · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If you lie while making your argument, all anyone will talk about is the lie. There's nothing quite so stupid as hading your enemy a dagger right before your fight.

    4. Re:Reserved Judgement by johnlcallaway · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You mean the threat that some self-righteous person can lie and manipulate his fellow workers into risking their jobs and livelihoods just so the self-righteous person can get some attention?? That if someone at work asks you to do something that isn't following procedure that you probably shouldn't do it because you could lose your job for someone that doesn't give a crap about you and will just flee the country and leave you hanging in the wind??

      I hope so, maybe we can stop more security leaks.

      Because the last time I checked ... nothing has changed. Other than Snowden getting far more press coverage than he deserves.

      Or will Sony be brave enough to paint the entire picture rather than just try and create a feel-good movie about an underdog by only presenting the facts that help them get the best ratings instead of presenting a balanced viewpoint?

      Probably .. that's what most documentaries do. Al Gore and Michael Moore are masters of that, I wonder if Sony will hire them.

      --
      I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
    5. Re:Reserved Judgement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

      Surveillance is not a threat to liberty. Assholes with authority are, even with the wrong information. You don't need surveillance to be an asshole with authority, and surveillance isn't what makes you one.

    6. Re:Reserved Judgement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Painting him as the bad guy wouldn't work. Overt propaganda is much less effective than covert. Just look at most WWII-era propaganda and compare it with modern propaganda. My guess is they will end the movie like "but was it worth it?", showing the character's actions as negative but not evil. So people will go out of it thinking "oh, he's an idiot who didn't think of the consequences, I'm much more clever and so is Big Brother."

    7. Re:Reserved Judgement by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because the last time I checked ... nothing has changed. Other than Snowden getting far more press coverage than he deserves.

      Thanks to Snowden people are focused on securing the internet. Old protocols are being re-examined, new ones are being developed to be secure from the start. We found out about numerous back doors and weakened systems. We learned of previously unknown security flaws. We found about about widespread criminality and abuse, and reacted to it.

      Companies that the NSA/GCHQ had hacked have made changes to secure themselves. Maybe not enough, but things have definitely improved and they will be looking to block spies in the future.

      Even if you think that is all bad, at the very least Snowden demonstrated how insecure the NSA is. If he could get all that information from such a lowly position then it is safe to assume that the Russians, Chinese, Iranians and a number of other agencies had already infiltrated and gathered it all anyway. Americans should know that their country's secrets have been widely and easily compromised.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. If there was ever a reason to want Michael Bay... by Rinikusu · · Score: 5, Funny

    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
  4. I four One by rmdingler · · Score: 2
    Would go see it in the theatre even if it put me on some kind of list this comment does not qualify for.

    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

  5. Re:Snowden does NOT... by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    what about an jack bauer beat down?

  6. Business as usual or ? by davmoo · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.
  7. Hmm by neonmonk · · Score: 2

    Seems a bit premature. What makes them think the Snowden story is over? ...or are they hoping for sequels?

    1. Re:Hmm by RivenAleem · · Score: 2

      "...And finally in entertainment news, Sean Bean has been cast to play the lead role in the new Snowden movie"

  8. Re:Snowden does NOT... by Travis+Mansbridge · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And I suppose you deserve neither liberty nor security.

  9. Re:Good for all the traitors by erikkemperman · · Score: 2

    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)
  10. Re:Good for all the traitors by jeff13 · · Score: 2

    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.