Oliver Stone has begun principal photography in Munich on the Pathé Films drama about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Pathé Films developed the project with Stone’s long-time producing partner Moritz Borman, who serves as producer with Eric Kopeloff and Philip Schulz-Deyle. 

Open Road and Endgame will release in the US on December 25, while Pathé distributes directly in France on December 30 and also releases in Beneleux.

Wild Bunch handles international sales and has licensed Germany rights to Universum, which plans to release on January 8 2016, and Japanese rights to Gaga.

Shooting is scheduled to continue in various locations around the world until mid-May.

The cast includes Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Rhys Ifans, Joely Richardson and Timothy Olyphant.

Pathé Films developed the project with Stone’s long-time producing partner Moritz Borman, who serves as producer with Eric Kopeloff and Philip Schulz-Deyle. 

Kieran Fitzgerald and Stone adapted the screenplay from the books The Snowden Files: The Inside Story Of The World’s Most Wanted Man by Luke Harding and Time Of The Octopus by Snowden’s Russian Lawyer Anatoly Kucherena.