Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in a forthcoming movie directed by Oliver Stone.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt As Edward Snowden

Levitt’s casting as Snowden was announced on Monday. The casting for the film, which will follow the former NSA contractor as he leaks information on the U.S. government’s mass surveillance programs, was revealed by the film’s backers to the U.K. Guardian.

Stone, whose past films include Platoon and JFK, purchased the rights to The Snowden Files, by Guardian journalist Luke Harding and Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena’s Time of the Octopus. The 68-year-old filmmaker has reportedly already put together a script based on both writings.

According to Stone, Snowden’s journey “is one of the greatest stories of our time.”

Stone’s The Snowden Files is slated to begin production in January in Munich, Open Road Films and Endgame Entertainment told the Guardian.

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In 2013, Snowden leaked tens of thousands of classified intelligence documents that revealed the NSA’s pervasive surveillance on the American public, gathering data from the Internet and phone usage. The information Snowden leaked also showed the U.S.’s surveillance of world leaders working for the country’s allies.

Snowden, who has been granted a three-year resident permit by Russia, is wanted by the U.S. for theft of government property and willful communication of classified intelligence, among other charges.

Levitt’s last big screen role was in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. He currently has two films in postproduction – Philippe Petit biopic The Walk and Jonathan Levine’s Untitled Christmas Eve Project.