With Justified winding down, it was only a matter of time until star Timothy Olyphant picked up his next project. The star has signed on to join the growing cast of the upcoming Edward Snowden movie from Oliver Stone. He will join the already attached Joseph Gordon-Levitt who plays Snowden as well as Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Tom Wilkinson, Scott Eastwood, and Zachary Quinto.
Olyphant is said to be playing a CIA agent who befriended Snowden before the latter fled to Russia seeking asylum after making classified documents public. If you don’t know much about the story (watch more news) the script is based on the books “The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man” by Luke Harding and “Time of the Octopus” by Anatoly Kucherena, Snowden’s Russian lawyer.
I’ve always considered Olyphant to be an underrated actor and while he’s had more than a few great performances, his role in THE GIRL NEXT DOOR still stands out as the moment I wanted to see him in everything.
For a great look at the Snowden story, check out CITIZENFOUR which is up for an Oscar this weekend. Our own Chris Bumbray called it "a must-see and one of the most important films of the year" in his glowing review.