NEW YORK (AP) — Oliver Stone will write and direct a film about Edward Snowden, one of two high-profile films in the works about the National Security Agency leaker. 
 
 FILE - This April 16, 2014 file photo shows U.S director Oliver Stone at the 4th Beijing International Film Festival held in Beijing, China. Stone will write and direct a film about Edward Snowden, one... (Associated Press) 
 
 Stone announced Monday that he plans to adapt "The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man," a book by Guardian journalist Luke Harding. The project pairs one of cinema's most controversial directors with one of the most explosive news events in recent years — one that is ongoing. 
 
 "This is one of the greatest stories of our time," Stone said in a statement. He added that making such a film is "a real challenge." 
 
 He will have some deep-pocketed competition. Sony Pictures last month purchased the big-screen rights to Glenn Greenwald's "No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the U.S. Surveillance State." The film is being produced by James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. 
 
 Stone has advocated for the former NSA contract systems analyst, who is living in Russia on a temporary grant of asylum after leaking massive amounts of NSA documents to the media. 
 
 "To me, Snowden is a hero because he revealed secrets that we should all know, that the United States has repeatedly violated the Fourth Amendment," Stone said in a press conference at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic. 
 
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 Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle ||||| LONDON — Oliver Stone and long-time producing partner Moritz Borman have nabbed the rights to “The Snowden Files, The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man,” written by journalist Luke Harding. 
 
 Stone will pen and helm the film, drawing from Harding’s account of events surrounding the Guardian newspaper’s reporting of the disclosures provided by Edward Snowden. 
 
 Stone has started to write the screenplay and Borman is fast-tracking it as a European co-production to start filming before the end of the year. 
 
 The book was described by the New York Times as “a fast-paced, almost novelistic narrative that is part bildungsroman and part cinematic thriller.” 
 
 Stone said: “This is one of the greatest stories of our time. A real challenge. I’m glad to have the Guardian working with us.” 
 
 Guardian editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, said: “The story of Edward Snowden is truly extraordinary, and the unprecedented revelations he brought to light have forever transformed our understanding of, and relationship with, government and technology. We’re delighted to be working with Oliver Stone and Moritz Borman on the film.”
– After tackling issues including the Vietnam War, the assassination of JFK, and the presidency of George W. Bush, Oliver Stone says he's taking on another of the "greatest stories of our time": Edward Snowden's National Security Agency whistleblowing. Stone will write and direct an adaptation of Guardian journalist Luke Harding's The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man, with Harding and other journalists working as production and story consultants. Stone, who has previously described Snowden as a hero, says making the film is a "real challenge." The New York Times described Harding's book as "a fast-paced, almost novelistic narrative that is part bildungsroman and part cinematic thriller," and filming is likely to begin before the end of the year, reports Variety. But Stone's film will have some serious competition, the AP notes. Sony Pictures has bought the rights to former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald's No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the US Surveillance State and signed up James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson for the project.