Joseph Gordon-Levitt on 'Snowden', Selfies, & Surveillance

I want to play a love it or lose it. So selfies. Are you loving them or you're you're losing them?

Oh, I mean, I'll still take a damn good selfie sometimes. Occasionally.

Occasionally. Oh, not just a good one, a damn.

No, no, no, a damn good one, but just occasionally.

Hey guys, it's Audrey and he is back on the Young Hollywood couch. Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Hello. Welcome back.

Hello. Thanks. Good to be here.

So I gotta say I was super impressed with your portrayal of Edward Snowden. Like you really, really disappeared into this character, the voice, the mannerisms, all of that.

Best I can tell, even walking around on two broken legs for weeks. When do I go back? You ever again land on those legs of yours, those bones will turn to powder. Plenty of other ways to serve your country. Why do you want to join the CIA? I'd like to help my country make a difference in the world.

You actually met him. Can you tell me a little bit about that, how surreal it was to actually come face-to-face with the guy you're playing?

Yeah, it's funny. I don't I don't really get nervous to meet people usually. And I I've I've met, you know, some of my idols in in showbiz and stuff and stuff.

You were you were nervous to meet him.

Well, yeah, he's he's in a different category than you know, than than meeting a a great director or a great actor or something like that. Not to mention, I was also, I mean, I was genuinely concerned for your safety? Honestly, I I wasn't eventually, like I didn't once I went, I I only went because I knew it was safe. But I never had to have a conversation before with like my wife and my mom saying don't worry, it's safe where I'm going. Like Here's what you do. Here are the codes. Take my self-out.

No, no, no, it wasn't it wasn't that crazy.

Um, But yeah, well the funny thing about meeting him is he's always trying to take the attention away from himself and put it on the issues that he brings up. But I'm an actor trying to play him. So obviously my attention is going to be on him, on him as a human being and and trying to get a sense of what he's like and who he is and what makes him tick and you know, observing just how does he shake your hand or how does he, you know, talk or sit or how does he eat? Things like that. You can tell a lot about a person.

Sure. Okay. Sure.

Each of you is going to build a covert communications network in your home city. You're going to deploy it, back it up your site, destroy it, and restore it again. The average time is five hours. I'm Dr. You don't have to tell me when you've completed a stage. No, I finished the whole thing. It's been 40 minutes. 38.

Well, he is a pretty divisive person. So I wonder like after doing this movie, after meeting him, did your mind change at all?

I mean, the truth is before doing the movie when when Oliver Stone first offered me the job, I realized I don't actually know almost anything about this guy. I've heard the name Edward Snowden. Okay. And we've all kind of heard the name, you may have seen him in the news or something, but

Yeah.

you know, these little quick things that you see in the news or that you might read when you're scrolling through your feed or whatever, they don't give you enough of an understanding. I don't think.

Really, you don't think you get enough in 140 characters?

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I think you understand what I'm saying. But yeah, so I

So you could go in with kind of fresh eyes then.

I think so and I I think we probably all could. I mean, the thing is it's just what you said, you can't really understand him from 140 characters and and like I I can tell you my opinion about him. Um, like you said, he's really divisive. He's certainly polarizing. Sure. Uh, but when I looked into it, I I came to think that what he did was a service to our country. Okay. Um, I think he started a conversation that we needed to be having. And look, you can think that mass surveillance is a good idea or you can think that mass surveillance is a bad idea, but I think it's it's safe to say we should be having that conversation.

Yeah. You're making people very happy. Thank you.

You ready for a little action? Oh, this looks cheesy. How is this all possible? Think of it as a Google search, except instead of searching only what people make public, we're also looking at everything they don't. Emails, chats, SMS, whatever. Yeah, but which people? The whole kingdom is not White.

And in doing this movie, I know some of the other characters who came in they, you know, they learned a lot about how the NSA can uh tap into your bank accounts. So, did you immediately after wrapping, just like chuck your phone, change the passwords? Like what what did you started looking at, you know, all the orders

I do have a much longer password than you do.

Okay, okay, that's good. Yeah, no, I mean to me not password anymore. Password is password. 123. Password two is great. That's that's not a password. You heard it. You heard it right here. JGL is awesome. So, what is the internet search that's going to get you on the NSA watchlist?

Get me on the NSA. Oh, I'm already on the NSA watchlist. I'm pretty sure I am too and I think you probably are right now. No, I mean, the thing is but but this is exactly the thing. They were watching everybody. And and it's an important distinction because the law doesn't say that the NSA isn't allowed to spy on anyone. They're allowed to spy on someone if they have some kind of criminal suspicion. That's what probable causes, that's what a warrant is, that's what it says in in the Bill of Rights. Sure. The problem was they were collecting information about everybody. Just so they could have it, so they could search it later. And that's that's when a government has too much power.

The NSA is really tracking every cell phone in the world. There's something going on inside the government that's really wrong and I can't ignore it. I just want to get this data to the world. Hey. I feel like I'm made to do this and if I don't do it then I don't know anybody else that can. Our Bill of Rights is all about limiting government power because the founders of our country knew that it's in human nature for governments to try to get more and more power for themselves.

to get all your selfies.

Yeah. To get all of your selfies. To get all of your naked selfies. Yep. Uh huh. And then blackmail you with them.

Uh before we go, because you do know better now, I want to play a love it or lose it, the internet edition. So, uh, I'm just going to list off a couple things, uh, and you you love it or you lose it? So selfies. Are you loving them or you're you're losing them?

Oh, I mean, I'll still take a damn good selfie sometimes. Occasionally.

Occasionally. I'm not just a good one, a damn.

No, no, no, a damn good one, but just occasionally it's about moderation, I think.

I think so too. Yeah, you can't go on Instagram. If someone's feed is just all selfies, they're just like

Problem. Yeah. Problem.

Snapchat. Love it or lose it?

No, I don't like that.

Yeah. No. Why?

Well, I mean, it's the thing is like if I'm going to take a picture of something and like keep a record of what I was doing that day, I don't want it to be erased 24 hours later.

You don't want it, you want it for posterity.

I like I mean, I'm sentimental about that stuff. Like if I jot down a note on a napkin somewhere, I like I put it somewhere in my closet. I'm Sentimental about those things. So write things down.

Oh my gosh. You're like really retro. Uh, love it or lose it? Taking pictures of food.

Huh? Uh,

Taking pictures of food. You like in between on that? Little bit?

I know. It's tough. It should be like It's again, it's about like moderation. If it's really special.

All good things in moderation.

Yeah. It's really special. Throw a filter on it.

No, no, no, no. You want to play love it or lose it Instagram filters bad. Don't don't do that. Really?

Yeah. Those kill pictures, man.

Oh, wow. I feel that way about just hashtags in general. Like that was, you know, I completely agree. Hashtags are are getting ridiculous. Ridiculous. Okay, last one, love it or lose it. Texting.

Well, yeah. What? What are you supposed to not text message?

Well, I'm kind of losing. What are you going to call people on the phone every time? That's what Zachariah said. But Zachariah said that he he does proper punctuation when he texts. I I like to text and complete sentences. Do you? Oh my gosh. I'm going to get

I think it's I think it's elegant.

I would like handwritten texts from you, Joseph. Yeah. Actually. There you go. You should start that. I can be your startup. Handwritten texts. I don't know how you're going to do it. But I will find a way. All right.