Among the plethora of trailers to drop at San Diego Comic Con, was the new look at Oliver Stone’s “Snowden.” And in fitting with a movie about privacy, there was a secret screening of the film, followed by a Q&A with Edward Snowden himself, beamed in on a stream from Russia. But it was during the panel discussion where the most interesting details were revealed, including the nugget that — surprise, surprise — major studios didn’t necessarily want to hold the hot potato of this movie and subject matter.
“Frankly, it was turned down by every major studio,” director Oliver Stone said. “It was definitely self-censorship. I don’t believe there was an enemy such as the NSA lurking in the background but self-censorship is a huge issue in this industry. Every film studio, the boards, rather than the executives, said no.”
And while I wouldn’t disagree with Stone that the studios were maybe playing politics in turning down a movie about Edward Snowden, I would also wager than in the current blockbuster climate, it’s not in their business model. And the director doesn’t help his arguments much when he kind of goes off the deep end with his thoughts on “Pokemon Go.”
“[Google] have invested a huge amount of money into, what surveillance is, data mining. They’re data mining every single person in this room for information as to what you’re buying, what you like, above all, your behavior,” the director said. “So ‘Pokémon Go’ kicks into that. It’s everywhere. It’s what some people call surveillance capitalism — it’s the newest stage. It’s not for profit at the beginning, but it becomes for profit in the end. Because it creates its own awareness, and it gets into everywhere in the world, until it manipulates our behavior, and we start to act like that, which has happened already quite a bit on the internet.”
“But you’ll see a new form of, frankly, a robot society, where they will know how you want to behave and they will make the mockup that matches how you behave, and lead you into another form of behavior,” he continued. “It’s what they call totalitarianism.”
I mean, it’s right to be concerned about privacy in an age when it seems every app wants to access your entire life, but Stone should maybe chill slightly, because the “Pokemon Go” controversy has been slightly overblown. One issue at a time, Stone.
“Snowden” opens on September 16th, and in order to see you it, you won’t have to share any of your personal data. You’ll just need to buy a ticket. [The Guardian/Fortune]