First look at Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Edward Snowden in Oliver Stone drama

While this year’s Oscars have only just passed, 2016’s ceremony is a mere 12 months away and some early favourites are starting to be unveiled. Last week gave us a first look at Eddie Redmayne in Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl and now, we have a newly released still from Oliver Stone’s hotly tipped Snowden.

The biopic stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who revealed the mass surveillance of private communications by the National Security Agency. The photos released from the set show Gordon-Levitt as Snowden in military uniform. Snowden was in the US army reserves for five months before being discharged in 2004. He told the Guardian he left after breaking both his legs in a training exercise.

Snowden was recently the subject of Laura Poitras’ Citizenfour, which picked up this year’s Oscar for best documentary. The plot of Stone’s film follows Snowden as arrives at his decision to reveal the extent of the NSA’s snooping to Poitras and former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald. Star Trek actor Zachary Quinto will play Greenwald, while Tom Wilkinson has signed on as the Guardian’s defence and intelligence correspondent Ewan MacAskill.

Snowden’s star-studded cast also includes Shailene Woodley, Scott Eastwood, Melissa Leo, Timothy Olyphant, Rhys Ifans, Joely Richardson and Nicolas Cage.

Snowden hits US cinemas on Christmas Day with a UK date as yet unconfirmed.