SALT

Salt is a 2010 American action thriller spy film directed by Phillip Noyce, written by Kurt Wimmer, and starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Daniel Olbrychski, August Diehl and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, who is accused of being a Russian sleeper agent and goes on the run to try to clear her name.

Originally written with a male protagonist, with Tom Cruise initially secured for the lead, the script was ultimately rewritten by Brian Helgeland for Jolie. Filming took place on location in Washington, D.C., the New York City area, and Albany, New York, between March and June 2009, with reshoots in January 2010. Action scenes were primarily performed with practical stunts, computer-generated imagery being used mostly for creating digital environments.

The film had a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 22 and was released in North America on July 23, 2010, and in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2010. Salt grossed $294 million at the worldwide box office and received generally positive reviews, with praise for the action scenes and Jolie's performance, but drawing criticism on the writing, with reviewers finding the plot implausible and convoluted. The DVD and Blu-ray Disc were released December 21, 2010, and featured two alternate cuts providing different endings for the film.

Development and writing

The early development of the script began while Kurt Wimmer was doing interviews promoting Equilibrium. In a November 2002 interview, he discussed what scripts he was working on. He stated that "I have several scripts – foremost of which is one called The Far-Reaching Philosophy of Edwin A. Salt – kind of a high-action spy thriller..." In another interview, Wimmer described the project as "very much about me and my wife". The plot incorporated many elements from Equilibrium, with an oppressive and paranoid political system of brainwashing that gets overthrown by one of its high-ranking members who rebels due to an emotional transformation. With the shortened title Edwin A. Salt, the script was sold to Columbia Pictures in January 2007. By July 2007, the script had attracted the attention of Tom Cruise. 

Terry George was the first director to join the project, and he also did some revisions to the script, but he soon left the project. Peter Berg was the next director to consider, but he too, eventually dropped out for undisclosed reasons. A year later it was confirmed that Phillip Noyce would direct.[10] Noyce was attracted to Salt for its espionage themes, which are present in most of his filmography,[11] as well as the tension of a character that tries to prove his innocence yet also does what he was previously accused of.

 Box office

Sony predicted an opening weekend take in the low-$30-million range, while commentators thought it would come in closer to $40 million and beat Inception for the number one spot at the box office. Salt opened in 3,612 theaters, with an opening day gross of US$12,532,333 – $3,470 per theater – and on its opening weekend, $36,011,243 – $9,970 per theater – behind only Inception, which made $42,725,012 in its second weekend. Salt also grossed $15 million from 19 minor international markets. On its second weekend, it declined in ticket sales by 45.9% making $19,471,355 – $5,391 per theater and placed number three behind Dinner for Schmucks, but by opening in 29 countries that same weekend, it grossed $25.4 million internationally. Salt ended up grossing $118,311,368 in the United States and Canada and $175,191,986 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $293,503,354.

Versions

Director Phillip Noyce has said that due to the extensive usage of flashbacks, "there was always going to be a mountain of alternative material that would not fit into the theatrical version. The film ended up having two extra versions, the Director's Cut and the Extended Cut – which Noyce refers to in his audio commentary as the film's original cut – both included on the DVD and Blu-ray Disc deluxe editions. 

The Director's Cut was described by Noyce as "my own personal take on the material, free from the politics and restrictions of producers, studio or censorship ratings." Four minutes of film are added, leading to a running time of 104 minutes. More flashbacks are added, and the violence is amped up – for example Mike being drowned rather than shot to death. The ending is also different: in the bunker scene, Winter shoots the President instead of only knocking him unconscious, and a media report during the final scene reports that the new US President had been orphaned on a family visit to Russia, implying he is also a sleeper agent. Noyce has described this ending as "an ending yet just a beginning – and it's an ending that turns the whole story on its head".

The Extended Cut increases the running time by only one minute, but rewrites the plot by removing, rearranging and adding scenes. The ending has Salt escaping custody from the CIA and going to Russia, where she kills Orlov – his death scene at the barge does not appear in this cut – and destroys the facility where new child spies are being trained.