HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — The contemporary spy thriller Salt, starring Angelina Jolie, began life with an offhand comment Jolie made a few years ago.
“I was meeting with (Sony Pictures Co-Chairman) Amy Pascal a few years ago when it came up in conversation that she was getting ready to make one of the new James Bond films,” Jolie remembers. “I playfully said, ‘I want to be Bond!’ That was our little joke, and then she found this project.”
Screenwriter Kurt Wimmer had originally conceived the role of Salt to be played by a male actor. His original spec script was developed with producer Sunil Perkash, who then brought it to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Amy Pascal at Sony, who in turn brought on director Phillip Noyce. Like all motion picture projects, the screenplay then went through several drafts, but the major change to the script occurred when the filmmakers envisioned Jolie, an Academy Award-winning actress and one of the few women in the world who can carry an action picture, in the title role. Very quickly, “Edwin Salt” became “Evelyn Salt.”
“We had a really smart script we all collectively loved with an intriguing and complex character, so the idea of Angelina doing this suddenly felt like a no brainer,” says Perkash. “She's an incredible actress who would bring such depth and realism to a very enigmatic character. Having that realism in an otherwise fantastical story was very important, and we were beyond thrilled when she responded to the role.”
Watch: Salt cast interviews
“When we changed the gender of the main character, we began to question the dynamic of every scene,” explains di Bonaventura. “We didn’t simply question whether a woman would make all the same choices, but also how the other characters would act or react differently, given that it’s a woman. It was a huge change that rippled through the entire script.”
In the film, Evelyn Salt, a CIA operative, is accused of being a sleeper spy for Russia. With her entire world crashing down, Salt must stop at nothing to prove her innocence – but her efforts to evade capture only throw her motives in doubt.
di Bonaventura says that the notion of sleeper spies is not fantasy. “There’s no question that they exist,” he says. “The CIA believes that they exist. There’s something really mysterious and sexy about the notion that somebody could lie in wait – for decades, if necessary.”
“The real fun of this movie is that it’s an action thriller and a mystery centering around the identity of this character – ‘who is Salt?,’” says Perkash.
“Salt has a lot of elements in it,” di Bonaventura explains. “It’s a thriller, it’s an action movie, it’s a spy movie, it’s a dramatic love story, and it has some kick-ass action.”
Also see: Salt Premiere Red Carpet Pictures
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