NYDAILYNEWS.COM – Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play one of the most polarizing figures in recent history.

The “Don Jon” actor has been tapped to play Edward Snowden in an Oliver Stone movie about the infamous NSA whistle-blower, the film’s producers confirmed to The Guardian on Monday. Gordon-Levitt, 33, was reportedly the “Platoon” director’s first choice for the role.

The film will be was based on two 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.

The movie, which does not yet have a title, will chronicle Snowden’s saga as a National Security Agency whistle-blower. In 2013, he leaked classified proof that the U.S. government had been spying on its own people.

After fleeing the United States, Snowden was granted asylum in Russia, where the 31-year-old still lives today.

The film is scheduled to start production in Munich in January, according to Open Road Films and financing company Endgame Entertainment.

“This is one of the greatest stories of our time,” the 67-year-old director said in June after signing on to direct the film.

BREATHECAST.COM – Warner Bros. has recently started production on a film adaptation based on DC Comic’s Sandman.

The upcoming ‘Sandman’ film will cast ‘Dark Knight Rises’ actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

It was David Goyer, screenwriter for ‘Man of Steel’ who initially suggested Gordon-Levitt for the role, and Neil Gaiman, writer of the ‘Sandman’ comics, who agreed, “Joseph Gordon-Levitt, of all people, is an enormous ‘Sandman’ fan. He and David Goyer talked about it, they’ve come up, I believe, with a treatment of what they want the story of the first movie to be,” Gaiman explained.

“They are talking to an incredible writer [Jack Thorne], who I coincidentally already knew, because he did the movie script for ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane,’ so I’ve met him and loved his treatment of my work. And Wednesday afternoon I will be spending with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and talking ‘Sandman’! That’s pretty much everything I know. Now you know as much as I know,” he continued.

Gordon-Levitt also expressed his excitement for the film and said that he loved the character of Morpheus.

“I love just the basic concept of it – just the concept of personifying Dream, along with all of his brothers and sisters, the seven Endless personifying Death, personifying Destruction and Delirium and Destiny and Desire and Despair,” he said, “I mean, that’s just a fascinating and, I think, a really cinematic concept. You look at the art of Sandman, and it just looks spectacular. I love big, spectacular movies, but oftentimes big, spectacular movies sort of get stuck in a rut. They go down certain paths that end in big explosions or whatever. Sandman has so much opportunity to do something that’s on a grand, grand scale, but really unlike your average big, grand-scale, spectacular movie.”

‘Sandman’ the movie is expected to be released in 2016.

HOLLYWOODREPORTER.COM – Director Jonathan Levine is set to reteam with his 50/50 stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen for an Untitled Xmas Comedy. Sony beat out several studios to nab the project, which is on the fast track for a summer 2014 start.

The film revolves around three childhood best friends who reunite in New York City for their annual tradition of going out on Christmas Eve. Gordon-Levitt and Rogen will play two of the best friends, with the third lead role still to be cast.

The project also reunites the 50/50 trio with Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane, whose company Mandate Pictures — now named Good Universe — produced and co-financed 50/50. Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Grey Pictures also are on board to produce Xmas.

50/50, which centered on a 27-year-old man’s (Gordon-Levitt) struggles after a cancer diagnosis, became a critical hit and was nominated for a best picture Golden Globe. The film cost $8 million and earned $39 million worldwide.

Xmas was shopped as a package over the weekend and sparked heated interest from several studios, including Sony, Universal and Paramount. In a competitive situation, Sony emerged as the winner before the dust settled late Monday afternoon. Sony has a strong relationship with Point Grey, coming off last year’s hit comedy This Is the End. The studio also is making Rogen’s and Goldberg’s North Korea-set comedy The Interview.

Levine wrote the screenplay for Xmas. Rogen, Goldberg and Point Grey’s James Weaver are producing. Drake and Kahane will executive produce alongside Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir.

Good Universe, which produced the recent comedy Last Vegas, also has the upcoming Rogen vehicle Neighbors at Universal as well as Angelfall, an adaptation of Susan Ee’s bestselling book series, to be produced by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert.

Gordon-Levitt is repped by WME and attorney Karl Austen. Rogen and Goldberg are handled by UTA and attorney Fred Toczek. Rogen is additionally managed by Marsha McManus. Levine is represented by CAA and attorney Todd Stern. Dan Freedman negotiated the deals on behalf of Good Universe.

SCREENCRAVE.COM – Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the hottest young actors working today, which makes his interest in side projects and directing so fascinating. Here is an actor on every shortlist for the latest superhero movie, and he’d rather make an indie film about a sex addict. But he still likes acting, and besides his involvement with Sandman, he’s also now going to star in Man on a Wire for Robert Zemeckis.

The film would be based on the real life story of Philippe Petit, whose memoir To Reach The Clouds would serve as the basis for the film according to Twitch Film, who they broke this news. Sharp viewers may know that the book was already turned into a documentary in 2008, though there is surely more to explore.

This is also interesting in that Robert Zemeckis took a strange turn into motion capture for a couple of years in his career. Starting with The Polar Express in 2004, he spent the next five years making these sorts of movies until the experiment came to an end when the movies proved more expensive than popular, but it seemed to reflect his interest in the technology of cinema, which he used masterfully in films like Forest Gump and Cast Away. He rebounded with 2012?s Flight, which showed that he still knew how to work with actors, and was a master behind the camera. Hopefully he’s engaged with this material, as Zemeckis can be great. If this casting sticks, we’d expect the film to be made for Oscar season 2015.

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THEWRAP.COM – It’s hard to imagine Joseph Gordon-Levitt ever having a career lull. But when he did, years ago, he decided to create his own project instead of waiting for someone to offer him one.

The result was “HITRECORD on TV,” a new variety show that premieres Saturday on Pivot but has been seen half a million times online. The series is assembled from clips Levitt helped assemble in his downtime from writing, directing, and starring in last year’s “Don Jon”; producing an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” comics; doing backflips on live TV; and being the only credible Robin ever caught on film.

“This is something that I’ve been working towards for many years,” he told TheWrap. “In fact, since before I had shit else going on.”

We talked to the 32-year-old about evolving from a “3rd Rock From the Sun” child star, the Trotskyan world of Reddit, and the 1929 book that helps fuel his creativity.
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