When he was tasked with playing Edward Snowden in the new Oliver Stone movie "Snowden," Joseph Gordon-Levitt was interested, but he wasn't sure who the guy was, "I asked myself, wait ok, Edward Snowden. I know I know that name, but what exactly did he do and which one was he? And why? I realized I just didn't know." 

Soon thereafter he figured things out. Gordon-Levitt studied up on the former CIA analyst turned whistleblower and sat down with him during a trip to Russia. 

"He comes from a family where he's brought up to want to fight for his country. He's extremely patriotic," said Gordon-Levitt in an interview with Take Two's Alex Cohen. "And I know it sounds funny almost to use the word patriot and the word Snowden in the same sentence, because we've heard so often about how he undermined the country, but I came to believe personally that what he did was extremely patriotic."

If you'd like to hear how the actor prepared for his role as Snowden, click on the audio embedded at the top of this post.