Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who portrays Edward Snowden in Oliver Stone's upcoming film "Snowden", got a chance to know the NSA whistleblower in person and was amazed at his "warm, kind and thoughtful" nature.
Gordon-Levitt met Snowden in a secret Russian hideout as part of the research.
"(I was) wanting to understand this person that I was going to play, observing both his strengths and his weaknesses. I left knowing without a doubt that what (Snowden) did, he did because he believed it was the right thing to do, that he believed it would help the country he loves," Gordon-Levitt told theguardian.com.
The 34-year-old said Snowden was "in good spirits" during their four-hour meeting in Moscow.
"What I found was someone warm, kind, thoughtful: a lot like Philippe. Both of them are incredibly driven towards something they believe in.
"Certainly there was that note, that he very much would like to come home. He doesn't want to live in Russia at all," he said.
The actor was actually prohibited by Snowden's lawyers to talk about the meeting, let alone record the conversation. Giving a little insight on what they talked about, Gordon-Levitt said: "Now, as he would say, it's not for him to say whether it was right or wrong.
"That's really for people to decide on their own, and I would encourage anybody to decide that on their own. I don't want to be the actor guy who's like, 'You should listen to me! What he did was right!' I don't think that's my place. Even though that is what I believe - that what he did was right."
"Snowden", which was earlier scheduled to hit theatres on Christmas 2015, is yet to get a new release date.
