The Philippine Online Chronicles

An officer of the Central Intelligence Agency, Angelina Jolie is Agent Salt, sworn to defend and protect her homeland. But all she stands for teeters on the rocks when a Russian defector walks in to the CIA and accuses her of being a KGB sleeper agent whose next target is the visiting Russian President. With her credibility and character on the line, Salt evades capture to prove her innocence. But there’s more to Agent Salt than meets the eye.

Unlike any other agent

Having starred in action flicks such as Gone in 60 Seconds, Tomb Raider, and Wanted has made Angelina Jolie more than capable of delivering an amazing performance as Agent Salt, even going to the extent of doing many of the stunts herself. “That’s really Angelina on top of the vehicles,” said Simon Crane, who directed the second unit and coordinated the stunts for Salt.

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura further praised Jolie for her action prowess, calling her “pretty fearless.”

Jolie, considered the top action actress in Hollywood, says this genre is just right up her alley. “I love doing action movies,” she explained, “I’ve always loved to run and jump around and be physical.”

It helps that Jolie has collaborated with Crane in Tomb Raider and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, so she felt safe working with him. And who wouldn’t – Crane has choreographed a number of the most memorable action sequences in film, like Cliffhanger, Saving Private Ryan, Troy, and Braveheart.

Jolie had no problem with the rigs and harnesses, so instead of feeling nervous or apprehensive, the stunts made her feel “like working with the circus for the day, and you get to play.”

To prepare for her fight scenes, Jolie had to learn a combination of Muay Thai and Krav Magha. Her diet underwent scrutiny as well. “She has to have 70% carbohydrates and 30% protein diet with an anaerobic training regime as opposed to aerobic, so she can put muscle on without losing weight. Sticking to four or five meals a day routine as much as possible," revealed Crane.

Tom passed the Salt

Edwin, not Evelyn, was the original protagonist of the movie, and the role was to be given to Tom Cruise. Cruise, however, allegedly turned down the project as it was a little too similar to his role in Mission Impossible, and the talent fee a little too disappointing. Jolie “took a liking” to the story, and Edwin became Evelyn.

For film producer Sunil Perkash, “The idea of Angelina doing this suddenly felt like a no brainer…She is an incredible actress who would bring such depth and realism to a very enigmatic character.”

Playing Salt’s fellow CIA operative and partner Ted Winter is Liev Schreiber, who is described as one of the finest actors of his generation. Schreiber was most recently seen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine where he played Victor Creed.

In an interview, Schreiber revealed that he was drawn to the role of Winter, especially as he has played the role of a CIA operative in the past. He is fascinated and intrigued by CIA operatives.

Filming the movie was not all easy-breezy for Schreiber. He got a case of the jitters at the idea of working with Jolie. He said, “I get very nervous around famous people and I get nervous around beautiful women. This was a big double whammy for me and initially really uncomfortable, which was worrying me. I felt like the important part of the job for me was to develop familiarity with her because that was the humanizing factor. But then we bonded over kids very quickly. I have two small kids and she has two small kids and it quickly became, 'Oh you’re doing time-outs now? That’s just teething.' And all the sexual tension went out of the room. All the anxiety about her being very famous and a super-human celebrity kind of went away and I found this very nice easy person that I could relate to.”

Adding to the difficulty of filming the movie was the intense action scenes he had to perform. “There’s a tremendous amount of running in this film, more than I care to mention.  Running in dress shoes and a suit – Harrison Ford always made that look so easy, but it is not easy.  I spent the first two weeks of this film with shin splints, icing my legs every day,” said Schreiber.

Salt also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Agent William Peabody, who will stop at nothing to capture the elusive Agent Salt. Ejiofor described the script of the movie as “really smart” and the characters as “really strong.”  He is looking forward to working on a six-part series with BBC entitled The Shadow Light, which is about the Special Crimes Division.

Playing the role of Orlav, the Russian defector who puts Salt on the line, is acclaimed Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski. His works include The Promised Land, Young Girls of Wilko, and Ashes, The Birch Wood for which he was honored with the Best Actor award at the Moscow International Film Festival.

Worth her salt?

For Jordan Hoffman, the answer is yes. Although he readily admits there are a lot of things about the movie that does not work, and would even make him "conclude that it is garbage," he cannot deny that he enjoyed the movie more than the recent films that have just been released.

Overall, the reviews are mixed, according to the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. While J.R. Jones calls it “crushingly generic,” Kevin Williamson points out that putting Jolie at the helm of the film, rather than a male character, “makes what transpires feel fresh -- and unpredictable.” Betty Jo Tucker added, “Jolie owns the screen in Salt...her splendid work in this movie gives new meaning to the term “tour de force performance.”  As for this writer, the film is an intense thriller that is bound to keep you at the edge of your seats.

Although Salt does not knock Inception off the top on its opening weekend, the action-thriller opened strongly with an approximate USD36.5 million in the US.

Photo and some interview excerpts taken from the movie press kit, courtesy of Columbia Pictures.