Exclusive film clip: Watch 'Snowden' demolish his CIA aptitude test
Edward Snowden, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, demonstrates serious smarts in this scene from Oliver Stone's upcoming political thriller. Get a first look here.
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Americans remain divided on their opinions of Edward Snowden, the former CIA employee and NSA contractor who copied and leaked classified information in 2013.
But if Oliver Stone's new political thriller "Snowden" can be believed, there's one issue about the man that can't be debated. He's brilliant.
In an exclusive clip provided to CNET from Open Road Films, Snowden, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, takes an aptitude test during the CIA recruitment process. The senior intelligence operative running the test (Rhys Ifans) warns the room full of nervous test-takers that the average test time is five hours, and if they take more than eight, they'll fail.
Spoiler alert: Snowden doesn't need five hours.
Gordon-Levitt recently spoke to CNET's Connie Guglielmo, and shared details about meeting with Snowden in Moscow, where he's living while seeking asylum elsewhere. Gordon-Levitt said that he doesn't feel Snowden fits either the hero or traitor label.
"It's not a simple story," he said. "And that's the most important takeaway: Things like this aren't simple, and when we try to reduce them to simple sound bites, it doesn't help anything or anybody. Personally, I believe what he did was really beneficial to our country."
"Snowden" rolls out in theaters worldwide starting September 16.