Oliver Stone to write and direct film on former NSA contractor Edward Snowden

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Oliver Stone will write and direct a film about Edward Snowden, one of two high-profile films in the works about the National Security Agency leaker.

Stone announced Monday that he plans to adapt “The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man,” a book by Guardian journalist Luke Harding. The project combines one of cinema’s most controversial directors with one of the most explosive news events in recent years — one that is ongoing.

In a statement, Stone calls the account of Snowden’s leaks that exposed some of the agency’s most sensitive operations “one of the greatest stories of our time.” He says making such a film is “a real challenge.”

Sony Pictures purchased the big-screen rights last month to Glenn Greenwald’s “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the U.S. Surveillance State.”