is a fascinating drama.

And whereas Citizenfour just focuses on

that one moment in Hong Kong,

where he handed over these documents to journalists,

the movie we made is about nine years of his life.

And it starts in 2004,

when Edward Snowden enlisted in the U.S. Army.

I didn't know he did that, you know.

He wanted to go fight in Iraq.

And he broke both of his legs in basic training,

and he couldn't go fight,

and he was always good at computers,

so he ended up getting a job, you know, at the CIA,

and you know, his career went from there.

But seeing someone who, nine years prior,

wants to go to Iraq

in the most dangerous part of that war,

to, in 2013,

someone whose blowing the whistle on the NSA.

You know, that's what a good drama is built out of,

is a character who changes.

And one of the first questions I ask myself,

just as an actor, is why did he do it this way?

Why couldn't he complain through normal channels?

And...

There was a hearing in 2013,

just months before Snowden blew the whistle,

before Congress.

And the director of National Intelligence,

this guy named James Clapper,

was brought before Congress,

and he swore to tell the truth,

and he was asked, "Is the NSA collecting millions of records

on American citizens?"

And he said, "No."

-Which is just an outright lie! -Yeah.

So if you're Snowden, and you're like,

"This thing is happening every day where I work,

and I know it's wrong.

It goes against our Bill of Rights.

And now, my boss' boss' boss' boss' boss

just got up in front of Congress and lied,

and said it's not happening,"

you think me lodging a complaint...

Like I'm gonna go to my boss and be like,

"You know, we're violating the Constitution every day."

BILL: Yeah.

Is that really gonna... (CHUCKLES)

...do anything?

Like, it wouldn't have done anything.