Joseph Gordon-Levitt didn’t know much about Snowden before he got the role in Oliver Stone’s film. Picture: AFP/GEOFF ROBINS

A former contractor for the CIA, Snowden met with The Guardian newspaper, in 2013, while hiding out in a Hong Kong hotel room to reveal documents proving that ordinary citizens were under government cyber-surveillance.

At the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills, Gordon-Levitt talks about his role and his thoughts on this highly controversial film.

What were your thoughts when you were first offered the role?

Well, firstly I was just so excited that Oliver Stone was calling me. I’m such a fan of so many of his movies. I had heard the name Edward Snowden but I really didn’t know anything about the Edward Snowden story because when it was all breaking in the middle of 2013 I just happened to be very busy with work. I wasn’t up on the news, and so while I was very flattered that Oliver would call me and offer me this part, I wanted to look into it for myself.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt said Edward Snowden didn’t really have a plan after he handed over the classified documents. Picture: Open Road Films via APSource:AP

Once you did your research, how did you feel about him?

It me made me feel grateful to Edward Snowden for doing what he did.

Snowden is a polarising figure. Some call him a patriot, and others a traitor.

Yes, well, one of the things a lot of people don’t know about Snowden is that he enlisted in the US Army in 2004. If you know what was going on in the US at that time, anyone who was enlisted in the army was going to Iraq to fight. So he was really someone who wanted to go and fight for what he believed in. According to Stone’s movie, Snowden had some contradictory views about the US government.

He unquestionably believed that everything the US Government did is correct and over the course of a number of years while working for the CIA and the NSA, grows to ask some very serious questions. That’s not to say that he becomes against the United States government, in fact, I think it’s quite the opposite. He believes so strongly in the principles that the United States is founded on, the principles of democracy, the principles of the government being accountable to the people and not vice versa, that he was willing to risk his life and his liberty in order to stand up for those principles.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has changed his approach to technology after working on Snowden. Picture: Supplied.Source:AP

How have you changed your relationship with technology since playing him? How has it translated in your day to day behaviour?

I’ve become more aware of who might be collecting information about me, and that doesn’t only go for the government, by the way, because actually who’s collecting the most information isn’t the government, it’s other huge giant tech companies: Google, Facebook, etc. I’ve become more aware of what exactly am I agreeing to when I click the check box and say I agree to the terms of service for my email or for my music. That includes anything on my Facebook, any number of things and what are these companies doing with all the data that they are collecting about me and do I want them doing that? I don’t necessarily think that Facebook or Google are doing bad things with the data but before doing this movie I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that they were collecting it. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that that’s where they make their money.

Are you very hi-tech?

Well, I would say no. I’m decent enough at using computers for what I like to do with them. My dad and my brother were computer programmers and they taught me.

You are not only a husband but also a father. How has that changed your global world? Are you more optimistic or perhaps you’re more concerned that it’s a scary place we live in?

It does make me concerned seeing some of the ominous trends of where we’re headed but having a child does make me optimistic. I believe that he’s going to grow up and be able to do great things. As far as technology, I think certainly the Edward Snowden story is a cautionary tale about a new technology that we just inherited. We’re the first generation to have this fundamental difference in our lives that we are all connected to each other through this technology. Humanity will never be the same but I remain optimistic about that. I hold firm to the belief that we can be enormously productive and that the technology that’s new today can be enormously productive for us and have an enormously positive impact on humanity moving forward.

What do you think about Snowden’s future? What does he think?

He doesn’t know what’s going to happen to him. He has said that he didn’t really have a plan handing that information over to journalists. He didn’t really have a plan beyond that and I actually think that he was pleasantly surprised to still be alive and well.

I know you spent a few hours with him. What are his hopes?

I know that he wants to come home. He doesn’t want to live in Russia for the rest of his life. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.

You visited him in Russia. Was that at his apartment?

I didn’t go to where he lives. We met in an office.

So, no idea if he’s living in luxury?

I didn’t see it for myself. I don’t think he’s living in luxury. His only income is from the talks that he gives. He’s not making any money from this movie, I know that. He’s really not the type of guy that would, it’s not his style. I think he’s the type of guy that would probably prefer to live in a relatively normal way.

Do you think governments should embrace Whistleblowers rather than punish them?

Yes, definitely.

Snowden is out now