Nicolas Cage cast in controversial Snowden film

Actor Nicolas Cage. Photo / Getty Images

Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage has been cast in Oliver Stone's controversial Edward Snowden movie.

He joins Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto and Tom Wilkinson in the movie, which features Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the exiled US whistleblower.

Cage will play a former US intelligence official in the highly-anticipated international thriller.

Stone has already begun principal photography on Snowden in Germany.

It's not the first time Stone and Cage have worked together - the actor led the cast in World Trade Center in 2006.

News of Cage's casting comes hours after documentarian Laura Poitras picked up her first Oscar for the documentary film Citizenfour, about Snowden's exile following his decision to open up about national security secrets.

- WENN