Zachary Quinto Talks 'Snowden', Surveillance, & Pre-Fame Jobs

What are we going to do about the camera up there and the camera up there? Well, at least I know. And the camera right here. Like. What? You got boob cam? I don't. Um. Hey guys, Audrey in the Young Hollywood studio. With me Zachary Quinto, who smells really, really good.

Well, thank you, Audrey.

You uh, you're welcome. It doesn't creep me out at all.

No, no. Well I practice. It I I practice the range of creepiness.

What's the creepiest way you could tell me I smell good?

Ah, you're not so good.

Oh, that's pretty creepy. Yeah, that is pretty creepy, right?

Yeah, I know. I know. It's the vocal fry.

Yeah. It's the vocal fry.

Yeah, it's the very Yes, yes. Yeah, totally. We should totally do the interview like that. It's like we're on NPR, right?

Uh-huh. They do a lot of vocal fry. A lot. Yeah. Starting to annoy you now. when you when you're good.

No, this one will be like, Audrey.

Now, I've always been really impressed that you are up on the issues. Like, you are a very thoughtful person. So, I mean, you were familiar with Snowden before you signed on to this movie.

Yes. I made it quite clear that we were in possession of an authentic FISA court order. Now I just pray that it's actually authentic. Are you actually questioning that? Glenn, no one has ever seen a FISA court order. There's no precedent here. Tell us, did the White House make any specific claims about national security that would prevent you from publishing?

I'm sure you had your opinions about him and about this whole situation. Did working on this change that at all?

No, I would say it galvanized my belief that he is a whistleblower. And whistleblowers come with heaps of controversy. Uh, obviously. But, in the end, they are people who represent the notion that they are pursuing a truth that benefits others. They have access to information that's not meant to be divulged, but the divulgence of the information is beneficial to the population. And I think that's what Snowden represents in a lot of ways. You know, the government was flagrantly violating our constitutional right to privacy in unprecedented ways. And the thing to remember and the thing that I think this film really conveys is that Ed Snowden wanted to be a Patriot. You know, he tried to be in the military and when that didn't work out for various reasons, he went to the intelligence community and found opportunities there. He didn't seek this information out. He didn't look to undermine or discredit the government. Yeah. But he felt like at a certain point, he had no choice but to stand up and hold them accountable for their actions.

Uh-huh. I asked them repeatedly, and they had no substantive answer. Then there you go. What more do you want? You can go out and know that you're safe. Glen, I'd like to talk to Allan before we go any further. No, absolutely not. We're sitting ducks here, Janine. And part of that is, is this whole idea of you signed up for a job and then the job wasn't what you expected it to be, right? Did you have a job that you were like, you know what? This is not what I signed up for. You may be even as an actor. Like,

Right. My first job I worked in a hardware store in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And that was kind of fun. I enjoyed mixing paint. That was really fun. Like, custom paint, like, Yeah. Like, you know. With, like, fancy names, like I don't know.

Sure. Like if you go to the Home Depot and you wanna get a can of mossy hills, Right. Yeah. I would have been your guy. You know how to So it would be like two parts.

Yeah, two parts forest green, two parts cerulean, one part periwinkle. Uh, one part brew black.

That sounds so bad. Yeah, that sounds pretty bad. Yeah. Um. So now that you probably know a lot more about the NSA than than the rest of us do. Do you want to? Then you want to. Yes. So, what's gonna be your incriminating Internet search that's gonna get you on the NSA watch list?

I mean, I feel like just being involved in this movie, um, probably went to some. Just talking to me is probably gotten to gotten to know. Having you tell me I smell good is uh, definitely only because of the creepy way you did it. Um.

Totally. Only because of the vocal fry. Your vocal fry really put me at at risk.

No, I I uh, It is a national security threat. I will say, I was very cavalier about just my online kind of, you know, like, I never really took it all too seriously. And even when I heard about the story, I'm sure like many Americans, I was kind of like, oh, wow, that's intense. But like, doesn't really affect me. Kind of. You know, it was only through doing this film that I came to realize how vulnerable all of us are. Now, it's 1:00 PM in New York. If you don't get this out in the next four hours, you'll miss the evening news on the East Coast. We can post later tonight. I'm sorry, Glenn, but Allan's our editor in chief. And I'm making this decision now. The government knows that we have these documents now. The CIA could barge through this door any minute. Nut one more time. Act like a journalist and stop stringing us along. We carry around these devices in our pockets that make us accessible to surveillance at any given moment. You know, I definitely reinforced my passwords. I changed my passwords. I uh, enacted two-step verification on all of my handheld devices. I put tape over the camera on my laptop and I'm I'm not

You did put tape over the camera.

Oh, yeah. Totally. And I think everybody should.

What are we gonna do about the camera up there and the camera up there? Well, at least I know that And the camera right here. Like. What? You have boob cam? I don't. Um. But I feel like it's not about being paranoid actually. And and when you're you talking about surveillance cameras like in the streets and stuff? Oh, I need to like, yeah, in the streets. But like you were saying, when you find out that someone can turn on your laptop camera. I mean, at what point do you just not lose your mind?

Well, I mean, I think you have to take precautions to just make sure that your privacy is ensured and and if that means that, you know, you have to delete those nudes. Yeah, don't send them to the cloud. I'll tell you that. Um. But no, I feel like, uh, it is part of what this movie deals with and I think hopefully part of what audiences talk about and take away from it is we have a responsibility to ourselves and to one another. Not only to keep our governments accountable for protecting us in the way that they're meant to and the way that they say they are. But also to make sure that we're taking care of ourselves and ensuring our own, uh, our own wellbeing.

Well, before we go, since you know better now, I wanna play a little game called love it or lose it. Okay. So, love it or lose it selfies. Do you still take selfies after working? Okay, all right. After what? After working on this movie. I thought you were gonna say after working out. Uh, cuz I

Do you take selfies after working out? That's the only time I take them.

Really? That's super creepy. Uh, uh, taking pictures of your food.

I never take pictures of.

Really? No. Kike, just throw a little filter on there.

No. It's No.

Okay. All right. Lose it. All right. Instagram.

No, it's not. No. Uh, it's the only social media platform that I actually regularly engage.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Uh, with no food pictures, apparently.

No. I don't think you would find one food picture in my Instagram.

Okay. Well, I will scrub your Instagram feed and get super creepy with it. Texting. Love it or lose it. Uh, it's a necessity, isn't it? I don't know. I'm kinda on the lose it side, but you know. But then what? Do you do? Talk on the phone. Yeah, it's Oh. God forbid. I mean, I'm retro that way. Use your words. Yeah. Well, I'm gonna page you later. So I hope that I will. And I will use correct punctuation. Zachary, it's so good to meet you. Oh my God. It was so great. Let's just make it the weirdest handshake ever. Oh, that's terrible. Okay, that's really creepy. Yeah. Oh, oh. Thanks so much for coming by. He's like, what just happened?