Snowden (film)

"You ever hear about the Nuremberg trials, Trev? They weren't that long ago. Yeah, well, the big shots were the first trial, but then the next trial were just the judges, and lawyers, and policemen, and guards, and ordinary people just doing their jobs, following orders. That's where we got the Nuremberg principles, which then the UN made into international law, just in case ordinary jobs become criminal again."

"I think the greatest freedom that I have gained, the fact that I don't have to worry about what happens tomorrow, Because I'm happy with what I've done today."

"And ultimately, the truth sinks in that no matter what justification you're selling yourself, this is not about terrorism. Terrorism is the excuse. This is about economic and social control. And the only thing you're really protecting is the supremacy of your government."

"You didn't tell me we were running a dragnet on the whole world, Corbin."

"No matter who you are, every day of your life, you're sitting in a database just ready to be looked at."

"And it's just gonna get worse for the next generation, as they extend the capabilities of this sort of architecture of oppression."

"Look, Mr. MacAskill, uh, this is not about money or anything for me. There's no hidden agenda. I just wanted to get this data to established journalists like yourselves, so that you can present it to the world, and the people can decide either I'm wrong or there's something going on inside the government that's really wrong."

"The modern battlefield is everywhere."

"In 20 years, Iraq will be a hellhole nobody cares about. Terrorism's a short-term threat. The real threats will come from China, Russia, Iran. and they'll come as SQL injections and malware. Without minds like yours, this country will be torn apart in cyberspace."

"Bombs won't stop terrorism, brains will, and we don't have nearly enough of those. I'm gonna give you a shot, Snowden."

"Secrecy is security and security is victory."

"Most Americans don't want freedom, they want security."

"[about the Cray-1.] The first supercomputer. You can get all of this on a cell phone now."

"Sometimes, the more you look, the less you see."

"You would think intelligence would count for something in the intelligence business. Right. But you wanna know what it really is? What really sets the agenda? Military industrial happiness management. You keep the coffers open in Congress, you keep the money flowing to the contractors."

"Gabriel Sol: Optic Nerve. It's camera and mic activation. I wish we could take credit, but the Brits wrote it. Yeah, her laptop's off. Or was, she just forgot to close it. Of course, how would she know? This shit is so sly, the webcam light doesn't even turn on."

"One nation under surveillance for liberty and justice for all."

"The only safe place is on the run."

"It's a very strange thing to do [a story about] an American man, and not be able to finance this movie in America. And that's very disturbing, if you think about its implications on any subject that is not overtly pro-American. They say we have freedom of expression; but thought is financed, and thought is controlled, and the media is controlled. This country is very tight on that, and there’s no criticism allowed at a certain level. You can make movies about civil rights leaders who are dead, but it’s not easy to make one about a current man."

"Joseph Gordon-Levitt — Edward Snowden"

"Shailene Woodley — Lindsay Mills"

"Melissa Leo — Laura Poitras"

"Zachary Quinto — Glenn Greenwald"

"Tom Wilkinson — Ewen MacAskill"

"Scott Eastwood — Trevor James"

"Logan Marshall-Green — Male Drone Pilot"

"Timothy Olyphant — CIA Agent Geneva"

"Ben Schnetzer — Gabriel Sol"

"LaKeith Lee Stanfield — Patrick Haynes"

"Rhys Ifans — Corbin O’Brian"

"Nicolas Cage — Hank Forrester"

"Joely Richardson — Janine Gibson"

"Edward Snowden — himself"

"Robert Firth — Dr. Stillwell"