NICOLAS CAGE has joined Oliver Stone’s “Snowden.”

    Principal photography on the drama about the NSA whistleblower, the subject of Oscar-winning documentary “Citizenfour,” is currently underway in Germany. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has already been confirmed as playing the title role of Edward Snowden, with Shailene Woodley as his girlfriend. Cage will play a former U.S. intelligence officer.

    Other cast members include Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Rhys Ifans, Joely Richardson and Timothy Olyphant.

    The thriller is based on Luke Harding’s book “The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man,” which chronicles Snowden’s move from Hawaii to Hong Kong, where he handed over the NSA documents to journalist Glenn Greenwald, and “Time of the Octopus,” the upcoming novel from the whistleblower’s Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, telling the story about Snowden’s time waiting for the government in Moscow to grant his asylum.

    Paris-based Pathé Films has developed the project with Stone’s longtime producing partner Moritz Borman and has retained distribution rights for France and Benelux. Wild Bunch is handling international sales in all other territories, with Open Road Films and Endgame Entertainment partnering for the U.S. release. The film is being produced by Borman, Eric Kopeloff and Philip Schulz-Deyle.

    “Snowden” will be released Dec. 25.(SD-Agencies)