It will hit Indian screens in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu
and the director is quite positive about the response.
"Indian audiences love spectacle. They like complicated
stories, action and I believe they love Angelina Jolie. I hope
that they find this film really entertaining and a wonderful
ride like a roller coaster," he said.
Excerpts from the exclusive interview with IANS:
Q. Is it true that Tom Cruise was first choice for
"Salt"?
A. Tom Cruise was one of the actors I was talking to when the
part was originally written for a man. When Tom decided not
to play Edwin A. Salt, we moved on to Angelina.
Q. So how different is "Salt" from the MI
series?
Q. Ethan Hunt is a man and Evelyn Salt is a woman. That's the
first way of differentiating them. "Salt" is much
more reality-based. It's mainly real people placing themselves
in real danger on the screen. There's very little CGI (Computer-Generated
Imagery) in "Salt".
Superficially there are similarities between "Mission
Impossible" and "Salt". Ethan Hunt's missions
are always larger than life and fantastic - no criticism of
them all but they are not meant to be believed.
Q. And does Jolie make a better spy than Tom Cruise?
A. They say that as humans we trust people who are attractive
more than people who are not attractive. So Angelina makes the
perfect spy because she is completely a goddess.
Q. Looking at your credits like "Patriot Games",
"Clear and Present Danger", "The Saint"
and now "Salt" - are you fascinated by spy and crime
thrillers?
A. My dad was a military spy during the second world war. So
I grew up on such stories. As a result of my father's job, I've
always been interested in the world of spies. Since the last
decade, I've been looking for a project that deals with sleeper
spies.
The interesting part about such people (sleeper spies) is what
happens if they come from a totalitarian situation, go to an
enemy country and actually fall in love with that country. "Salt"
is about such thing.
The story in fact came true in America. In the last two weeks,
we have been constantly entertained by the headlines of the
arrest of Russian sleeper spies in New York City. The concept
of sleeper spies is a lot involved in the world.
Q. What are your expectations from Indian audiences
for "Salt"?
A. Indian audiences love spectacle. They like complicated stories,
action and I believe they love Angelina Jolie. I hope that they
find this film really entertaining and a wonderful ride like
a roller coaster. "Salt" is a very entertaining popcorn
thriller and will keep the (Indian) audiences on the edge of
their seats.
Q. Any plans to ever direct a Bollywood film?
A. I think every director in the world would love to direct
a Bollywood movie after Danny Boyle made his own version of
a Bollywood film with "Slumdog Millionaire".