Spy another day

Who could singlehandedly heat up the Cold War till it sizzles red-hot? The answer, of course, is Angelina Jolie. Arguably the silver screen’s sexiest siren, Jolie once again delves into the shadowy world of spooks and skulduggery in her latest spy thriller, Salt. In the film, she plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA officer who is accused of being a Russian double agent and then goes rogue to evade capture. As Evelyn’s existence is being erased, she uses her deadly spy skills to clear her name. But, in the web of espionage, nothing is as it seems—and neither, it appears, is Evelyn.

“Angelina plays a character who is both good and bad,” explains Salt director Phillip Noyce. He apologizes for sounding cryptic. “If I say any more it will give too much away,” he says. “Evelyn’s duality leads audiences into a fascinating jigsaw puzzle, and the fun is putting all the pieces together.”

Meanwhile, halfway round the world, in Venice, Jolie is already filming yet another spy caper called The Tourist, in which she plays an undercover Interpol agent who uses an American tourist (played by Johnny Depp) to help her entrap a former lover who is a suspected global criminal.

If you’re beginning to sense a pattern here, you may just qualify for MI6. Jolie has mysteriously cornered the market on spy films: Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), The Good Shepherd (2006), Wanted (2008), Salt (2010) and The Tourist (2011). If you count her female James Bondesque adventure Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and its sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), to quote Ian Fleming: “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” Maybe, just maybe, Jolie isn’t really acting. What if our greatest covert operative is, as the old spy adage goes, “hiding in plain sight”?

Hmmm... Let’s consider Jolie’s qualifications, shall we? She’s intelligent and perceptive, and her humanitarian efforts as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Goodwill Ambassador provide her access to international trouble spots. And, oh, yeah, her proficiency with knives and guns is razor-sharp—so much so that it even surprised Brad Pitt when they first met before filming the husband-and-wife-assassin thriller Mr. & Mrs. Smith. “We were running together through these weapons-training courses, and I was very impressed,” he says. When asked who was the better shot, Pitt concedes defeat with a laugh. “Well, I think that’s pretty obvious, don’t you?”

How does Jolie connect with Evelyn Salt? Find out on the next page...

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