Noyce and easy

We chat up the Salt director, a spy-sy character if we ever saw one. He also gives us a Jolie good report on his lead actor

Spies are the flavour of the season. And that's a genre Hollywood audiences can never have enough of. So you have sub-genres like spy comedies, spy thrillers and spy blockbusters sprouting all over the place. And while you're busy keeping track, along comes a film by a master of the game. Phillip Noyce has helmed quite a few spy flicks in the 1990s and Salt, in a way, is a long-overdue return to the genre. We spoke quite recently over the phone and while the publicist urged us to wrap it up real quick, Noyce himself sounded like he was in no kind of hurry. He went on and on about spies, his deep-seated admiration for Angelina Jolie (it has been ten years since he directed her in The Bone Collector) and while he was at it, nonchalantly let it pass that he had been offered Bond films but chose not to direct.



Excerpts:
What kind of research did you do for this film?
I spoke to ex-KGB agents, former CIA operatives and active agents -- some under diplomatic and business cover. Two years ago, Russian super-spies in deep cover on American soil, were arrested. They did exist and people only knew when they hit the headlines. And while seeking out spies might seem like difficult work, it's amazing how easily former spies will talk. I guess it's all about reliving the romance of it all...
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Do you think the network of spies is still as strong in Russia as it was during the Cold War?
Yes, I do think it still is very strong. In fact, it now operates on a new level. Espionage is a very important weapon. Today, it's all about being under deep cover, entrenched in positions of power, especially in multicultural societies like America. Patience is key and it takes years. My research tells me that such programmes exist in countries like India, Pakistan, China, Korea and other traditional foes.

You're a spy thriller specialist (The Saint, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games and now Salt) with the CIA being at the centre of the action in all these stories. Any particular reason?
Not just the CIA, the KGB and its successor, the Russian Spy Services, as well as the CIA. They are there in most of my films. An obvious choice, really...

Ever been offered a Bond film, considering you have the background?
Oh, I've been offered several times, but it wasn't until Martin Campbell gave Bond a heart with Casino Royale, did the franchise take a new direction for me. It made the possibility of directing a Bond film more interesting.

It's been a decade since you last directed Angelina Jolie. What changes have you noticed in her as an actor?
Even back then, Angelina had acted in Girl, Interrupted and Gia and was already an accomplished actor. She was just realising her strength and waking up to the actor inside her. Ten years later, different movies and different genres later, she had become a superstar, the most photographed and the most chronicled actor on the planet. The woman who came to the sets of Salt was the same woman of ten years ago. Only this time, she had returned with enormous experience. There was the same fearlessness. You see, most people are fearful of giving it their all. Angelina has got to where she is, not by accident. She takes me back to my childhood. I am reminded of the travelling shows in my old hometown, where the performers were committed to the audiences and this is a trait Angelina has embodied. All the baggage she has, she leaves outside the studio. Ten years ago, I was the teacher. When I walked on to the sets of Salt, the woman I met had a few things to teach me.

How much of Angelina Jolie does one see in Evelyn Salt?
She really understood the character. Playing an American woman accused of being a Russian sleeper spy and trying to prove her innocence and constantly having to walk through life making tough calls, Evelyn Salt does it all. Being an icon, Angelina Jolie proves she can do it all. Think of her as a Mata Hari of sorts.

One report states that Tom Cruise and not Angelina Jolie was the first choice for the lead role. He was even signed on then he dropped out. Is it true?
Tom was one of the actors we were talking to. In fact, we were considering a number of actors. Tom felt Salt was a little too close to Ethan Hunt, his own character in Mission: Impossible. He was also unable to commit. Amy Pascal (of Sony Pictures) then suggested we take Angelina. It took me 15 seconds to say yes. Imagine the most beautiful woman in the world demolish armies of men. Having a woman in that equation makes it different. Salt has this mentor in the CIA, who has had a crush on her. You sense and feel his disappointment, the emotion when she is accused of being a Russian spy and that sense gets heightened when you see Salt as a woman.

You once commented that working in Hollywood made you a nowhere man. Do you still feel that way?
I think enough time has passed for me to overcome that (identity) crisis.

Jolie on Noyce
Angelina Jolie was delighted to be reunited with Phillip Noyce, ten years after they made The Bone Collector together.
"It was a decade ago that we worked together and we had both grown and changed but yet we had a natural rhythm already there," she says. "We know each other's ways so it was comfortable and we jumped in very quickly once we started working on the script and started talking about stunts and drama and characters. We had that immediate communication."
She adds, "Phillip is somebody who understands action and also understands drama, emotion, real people and subtleties and nuances of a character. He is one of those rare directors who instinctively knows that balance very well. I was relieved when I knew Phillip was directing the film because I knew he could do it."

Salt released nationwide yesterday