Angelina Jolie Returns To Action In 'Salt,' Part Of MTV's Summer Preview Week

I hadn't heard much about "Salt" until a few months ago. It's just not something that made its way onto my radar. I was sold the minute I saw the trailer back in November. If you're a fan of action, heavy firepower and Angelina Jolie, then this is the movie for you.

The script, which comes from Kurt Wimmer and Brian Helgeland, is appropriately high-concept. Jolie stars as Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent who is forced to go on the run when a Russian defector IDs her as a KGB sleeper. After a tense escape from CIA HQ, Salt affects a new hairdo -- that's where the black hair comes from, FYI -- and sets out to learn exactly how she came to be in this situation and who is out to get her. It looks like another solid effort from "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger" director Phillip Noyce, especially with a cast that includes Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor and newcomer Yara Shahidi, who also stars in the upcoming ensemble comedy "Butter."

Here's a fun fact about "Salt": the movie was originally written with a male lead in mind. In a recent interview with MTV, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura spoke to the difficulties of reformatting a script after the main character's gender has changed.

"The hardest thing in switching from a man to a woman was actually all the characters surrounding the main character," he said. "First, we did [Jolie's] character and said, 'That works but everyone else seems kind of off.' So then we had to go back and do everybody else. It was a much larger undertaking than we previously expected."

It doesn't hurt that Jolie is, as di Bonaventura calls her "a workhorse." She's been a badass on film before and she likely will be again. That's not to say "Salt" finds easy comparisons with her past roles, beyond the ass-kicking action hero factor.

"One of the real fun things about the movie is you're left thinking, 'Who is she? How do I feel about this character?' The change in hairstyle is one of those things that contributes to that," di Bonaventura said. "One of the strengths of the movie is one of the things people were initially scared about, which is you don't know at times if you should root for, or against, her. The script does not follow conventional rules."

If there's anything conventional about "Salt," it's the amount of effort Jolie put into preparing for the part. "She did some training," di Bonaventura said. "She learned elements of martial arts. But more than anything, she had to train for the fights. We all felt that there should be no difference in Salt in terms of the action. Salt is every bit as tough and capable of great harm as a woman as a man."

The producer is confident that viewers are going to be wowed by Jolie's turn as Evelyn Salt. She's nailed strong action roles before, but every new gig is a new adventure. "She's ready to go. She's fearless," he said. "She believes the more the movie star does, the more fantastic it is. I remember the first screening of 'The Matrix,' people went, 'Oh my god, Keanu Reeves can fight!' Angelina does that in our movie."

Tags Angelina-Jolie, salt