First Photo of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Edward Snowden in Oliver Stone's New Movie

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Edward Snowden in Oliver Stone’s Snowden

Years before the words “NSA whistleblower” became permanently affixed to Edward Snowden’s name, he was just another young American, serving his country in the Army Reserves between college semesters. Those little-known early years will be explored in director Oliver Stone’s upcoming Snowden, a fictionalized biopic starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the man who would one day expose the National Security Agency’s widespread surveillance program. These first photos — one released by Open Road films, the other shared by Gordon-Levitt on Facebook — show Snowden wearing his army uniform and glasses as he goes through basic training.

The real Edward Snowden in 2013

“I was surprised when I first learned this about Snowden — that he enlisted in the US Army in 2004,” Gordon-Levitt wrote today on Facebook. “He wanted to go fight in Iraq, but during basic training at Fort Benning, he broke both of his legs and received an administrative discharge. After that, he was still determined to serve his country (love him or hate him, you gotta admit the guy’s strong-willed) and so he ended up getting a job at the CIA, which is where his career in Intelligence began.”

Gordon-Levitt posted this photo from the first day of shooting.

Stone’s film is reportedly based on two books, the nonfictional The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man by Luke Harding and the novel Time of the Octopus by Snowden’s Russian attorney, Anatoly Kucherena. Unlike last year’s Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour, Snowden will take liberties with the ex-CIA analyst’s story. Gordon-Levitt revealed on Facebook that the basic training photographs were taken on the first day of filming in Munich, Germany.

‘It was hard, but of course, nowhere near as hard as real basic training,” the actor shared. “And me, I’m just honored and excited to be doing a soldier sequence with Oliver. I keep saying to myself: “f—-, this guy directed Platoon!”

Gordon-Levitt also shared the photo below, which he captioned “Oliver Stone’s first selfie.” Snowden opens in theaters on Dec. 25.

Image credits: Open Road Films; Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Facebook, AP Photo/The Guardian