(This article is published by the film and television circle public account: circlemag)
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak called him a hero, US Secretary of State John Kerry called him a traitor, presidential candidate Donald Trump even called for his execution... This is the reality of Snowden's situation. On September 16, the controversial figure, who had been silent for three years, once again entered the public eye - a film about his legendary experience, "Snowden", was released in North American theaters.
On September 16, a movie based on the Prism Gate incident, a major event in American politics, "Snowden" quietly landed in North American theaters. Such a sensitive film will definitely make many viewers who are curious about the "prism door" "fascinated". However, due to the peculiarities of this film and Snowden himself, the production process of the entire film has also become the focus of public attention.
▲ "Snowden" was released for two weeks, with a praise rate of 61%
On September 27, the US Presidential televised debate was officially staged, and the presidential election was about to erupt. At about the same time, another blockbuster piece of news did not attract much public attention. On September 26, Snowden, the protagonist of the "Prism Gate" incident in the United States, said in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian that "I hope to get a pardon from Oba President Ma and return to my home country." On September 16, a movie depicting Snowden's "defection" process officially landed in North American theaters, and the public began to slowly understand Snowden's life situation for 3 years after the Prism Gate
。
At the same time, many people who follow the film are also surprised to find that Snowden himself actually participated in the shooting. This has led the public to wonder what role Snowden himself played during the filming. How exactly was the film Snowden made? During the filming process, what kind of twists and turns did director Oliver Stone go through?
Stone spent $1 million to meet Snowden
One evening in the summer of 2015, director Oliver Stone and his producer Moritz Borman finally met Snowden at a restaurant in Moscow.
▲ Oliver Stone
Keep your distance from everyone in the restaurant when eating, block the door with a pillow in the hotel during the interview... For Snowden, such security precautions have become the norm.
For Director Stone, he has had many incredible experiences in order to make movies, including becoming a Buddhist during the filming of "Heaven and Earth" and trying various hallucinogens in order to shoot "Doors". Ever since he decided to make a biopic about Edward Snowden, Stone has once again exhausted everything he can. To shoot Snowden, he and Borman were particularly concerned about U.S. government eavesdropping, more than once thoroughly checking their Offices in Los Angeles for bugging devices.
Compared with the shooting, the process of meeting Snowden seems to be more tortuous and more bizarre.
Back in January 2015, Stone, who was working on a film, received a phone call from Russia in which he identified himself as Mr. Snowden's agent. This man was the Russian lawyer Anatoly Kuchelena.
Kuchelena has represented Russian oligarchs, film directors, several pop singers and a government minister. In 2012, he campaigned for Vladimir v. Putin; shortly after Snowden landed in Moscow, Kuchelena appeared at Sheremetyevo Airport and offered to be his lawyer. Kuchelena then wrote a novel about his new client. The novel, titled Octopus Time, is about a NSA leaker named Joshua Corde and a Russian supporter who rescues him when he is isolated at the airport.
▲ Kuchelena
Snowden's story has all the elements of Stone's epic films: politics, government intrigue, and, at its core, a lost American patriot. If successful, it could become a sequel to the biographical film about Ron Covic, Born on the Fourth of July, for millennials. In 1990, Stone won an Oscar for the film.
First, though, Stone and Borman need to be sure that Kuchelena is serious. Borman asked the lawyer to send the book and two first-class tickets to Moscow. Books and tickets arrived the next day. Kuchelena's office also gave Borman a phone number in case they had any doubts. The call was answered by an employee of the Russian consulate in San Francisco, who, with the help of this employee, received a visa that week.
He was very upset by the news media's suggestion that the lawyer had links to the Kremlin. To set aside the ties, he spoke out several of his own defenses and was confronting FSB clients, including Pratun Oberhov, a writer accused of spying for Britain.
Even so, Stone's first meeting with Kuchelena was abysmal. Stone offered to see Snowden, but Kuchelena said that unless they agreed to buy the film adaptation rights to Octopus Time, the price would be $1 million! Otherwise Snowden wouldn't have seen them! According to Stone and Borman, before the long weekend ended, they made a gentleman's deal: Stone would buy the rights to the novel — if Kucheleena could arrange for him to meet with Snowden on a regular basis. But Stone admits that he doesn't intend to use the book.
With $1 million to go, Stone's boldness is on full display. However, just when he thought that everything would be fine, an unexpected thing happened.
An American lawyer appeared
It was at this time that american lawyer Ben Witsner appeared.
If Kucheleina was Snowden's agent in Russia, then Ben Witsner was Snowden's "mouthpiece" in the United States.
Ben Witsner
As an acquittal lawyer for the Acerberties Union, Wiitzner was particularly angry at Stone's appointment with Snowden, not only because Stone invited a reporter to Moscow, but also because it all had the impression that Snowden was involved in a Hollywood movie, and the entire film appeared to be being produced by a lawyer with ties to the Russian government.
Producer Borman said. "He can be reached through two channels: one is Kuchelena and the other is Witsner, purely political, and a political situation far beyond your comprehension." Witsner, 45, has worked for the ACLU since 2001. Prior to the Snowden affair, he had struggled to file several lawsuits to tighten oversight of intelligence agencies.
In response, Witsner said, "Snowden will never betray his story." But he also argues that Mr. Snowden's involvement in Hollywood films only fuels the views of his critics, who say he is a narcissist eager to make money. Snowden met with Stone only to make sure the film told an accurate story. For Stone, Witsner said, "Oliver Stone is a good director, he wrote a good script like Scarface. ”
Snowden and Stone started slowly. Snowden was particularly wary of a film about his life. After much communication, Snowden began to let go, answering about his childhood, his girlfriend Lindsay Mills, and what he could say about his work at the NSA.
For filmmaking, Stone and Borman divided their work, Stone began casting work, and Borman began to look for independent investments. He chose Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the lead role, and Sherlyn Woodley starred as Snowden's girlfriend, Lindsay Mills.
By early 2015, Borman and Stone were already in debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the crew was facing a shortage of funds. In the end, the producers pulled in some European partners and filming was delayed for three weeks. In the United States, the Open Way film company accepted Snowden, a small studio that had launched Kutcher's version of Jobs.
But while the time was running, a crisis was quietly brewing.
American and Russian lawyers tore it up, and "Snowden" almost died
However, the good times did not last long, and the two lawyers from the United States and Russia soon had a huge disagreement and began to openly tear it up.
In Witzner's view, Kuchelena has become a potential risk. Starting in 2013, the Russian lawyer first announced that Snowden had been offered a job on a prominent Russian website — which later proved to be fake news. Now, Kuchelena sells his novel to Stone, making it seem as if the director had to buy off a Russian matchmaker to meet Snowden.
According to Wiitzner, Snowden had not read Kuchelena's book. "In fact, Snowden has something more important." Witsner would not talk about Kuchelena's role in Snowden's life, though he admits that Kuchelena's role is a bit out of the ordinary. "Probably in Russia, the ethical code that governs the attorney-client relationship is not quite the same as the one in the United States," he said, "and the lawyer in a well-known case gave an exclusive photo of the client to a newspaper or wrote an unauthorized book to sell to Hollywood, which would hardly happen in the United States." ”
▲ Kuchelena's novel
Of course, the most important thing about the filming process of the film is Snowden himself.
To make Snowden feel more comfortable, Stone reduced the staff to a minimum. For Senior Cinematographer Mantel, filming Snowden was still a special challenge. Stone decided that shooting the film on American soil was too risky, so he decided to shoot it in Germany, where Borman could get some tax subsidies. In order to shoot about 140 pages of the script in 54 days, the crew rushed from Munich to Washington, Hawaii, Hong Kong, and then back to Munich. In order to save money, the outskirts of Munich had to be used as a rural area in Maryland and Virginia, with German extras playing Americans. "Thankfully, these Germans acted like Americans," Stone said.
The filming process itself is also like a covert operation, and the film not only has a code name, but also a detailed security code. "We all took handwritten notes, walked around the park for long periods of time and exchanged ideas, and if I had to mail the script, I would break it up and pack it into four packages and send it to four different addresses using four different courier companies." Borman said.
Toward the end of spring 2015, Stone's mother, Jacqueline Godey Stone, died at the age of 93. Stone, who was filming a critical moment, did not leave the crew, and on the day of the funeral, Stone continued to work on the set.
Movie Release: The effect is so good that there are no friends
The film's release date has been postponed from December 2015 to May 2016, and then to September 2016. Stone rushed to complete the production of the film during this time. One of the biggest challenges is the rhythm. Compared to the films he used to shoot, such a plot revolves around a technical expert who downloads confidential files. "Writing code doesn't make people feel excited," Stone said.
▲ Crew (first from the left is director Stone, second from the left is starring Gordon Levitt)
By changing the film into a story of online thrillers and love elements, Stone removed the tedium of reality. He used Snowden's relationship with Mills to incorporate some emotional overtones into the film.
After the film was completed, Snowden was the first to see the finished film. He rarely expressed his opinion, but after watching the film, Snowden said that he liked the film very much. A few months later, at a test screening at an anime convention, Snowden smiled and expressed a slightly cautious appreciation for the film through the satellite. "It really made me nervous, but I think he did a good job."
As Stone wished, Snowden appeared at the end of the film. He appears in a wood-paneled room at the Kuchelena country house, where Snowden is seen staring out a window with a faint, mysterious smile on his face. Snowden did not speak like an ascetic, but tried to convey Stone's standard movie lines.
In the summer of 2016, all the anxiety that had ever existed seemed to evaporate. After the film was made, Stone officially defeated Sony's project. Everyone seems to be optimistic, even a little surprised. "At first I thought it must have been a mistake," Borman said. He told me I hadn't seen such a high rating in 25 years, and the movie was so good that I had no friends.
Lead actor Gordon Levitt was so moved by Snowden's story that he donated most of the remuneration he received from the film to the Acliberties Union, and the rest of the money was used to work with Witsner on a series of videos about democracy. Mr. Witsner was preparing to petition Obama for an amnesty for President Snowden this fall. In July, Stone and Witsner also teamed up to host an ACLU event calling attention to Snowden.
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Film and television circle summary:
In the production of the entire film, what touched the film and television circles was what Oliver Stone did during the production process.
In order to meet Snowden, despite the dangers of politics and public opinion, he traveled thousands of miles to Moscow, and did not hesitate to take out 1 million US dollars from the shooting budget; tried his best to maneuver between the two agents in the United States and Russia; and missed his mother's funeral for the sake of filming progress...
Directing is really not a job that anyone can do!
(Source of part of the article: New York Times Chinese Network )
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