It’s only a matter of time before Hollywood makes the Edward Snowden movie; people have been comparing the instantly notorious NSA leaker to Jason Bourne since the story initially broke. And while we don’t have that big-budget blockbuster quite yet (Who would play Snowden? My money’s on Tobey Maguire), there is this sorta-charming, sorta-terrible five-minute short from Hong Kong.
According to filmmaker Edwin Lee, the script was written a day before shooting and actors weren’t given any time to rehearse. After watching the film, to put it kindly, that does not come as a surprise; nearly everyone in the production delivers their dialogue in frantic, Shatner-esque bursts. The cinematography is nice, thought, and the guy playing Snowden is a ringer. Too bad he doesn’t have any lines.
“Yes the film was about Snowden, but he wasn’t featured the most prominently,” Lee told CNN. “He’s mostly the catalyst [of events] affecting all these different people around him; it’s more about the vignettes.”
Watch the film, titled Verax, after Snowden’s self-appointed code name, above.
