Hollywood filmmaker Oliver Stone has announced he will direct a movie on fugitive whistleblower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The script will be an adaptation of a book by the Guardian's Luke Harding called The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the Most Wanted Man, according to the British daily's website.

Shooting of the movie, which will be a European co-production, is to begin this year.

Stone said as early as July 2013 he considers Snowden, who is currently in Russia after it agreed to grant him one-year asylum and is facing charges of espionage in he US, to be a hero.

He describes his story as "one of the greatest of our time".

Snowden fled the US last summer after leaking  thousands of secret documents alleging mass surveillance practised by the US intelligence. His actions are perceived as controversial, with some calling him "traitor" and others placing emphasis on his courage to support public interest.

The renowned director is famous for films dedicated to a number of events in modern history, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Watergate affair, the war in Vietnam and the US "war on terror".