SALT (2010) | Behind The Scenes of Angelina Jolie Action Movie

This is an actress who is a director's best friend. Why? Because she knows no limits. Why does she know no limits? Because she knows no fear. Whether it's a dramatic scene, whether it's a funny scene, or whether it's an action scene, she's going for it. She's let me find my husband. It's remarkable watching her work, because she really goes all the way, particularly in the action sequences. She's very into doing all the action herself. She has no fear that way. She really, really gives it 150% every single day. She and the chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment had had lunch a couple years ago, and she had offered her one of the lead female role in a Bond movie, and Angelina said, don't bring me the female lead in the Bond movie, bring me, you know, a male lead. Like, I want to play Bond. We've tried to make it a bit Bond, a bit Born, and a bit Salt. She's pretty fearless. You know, we've put her on the outside of buildings, we're dropping her off bridges, jumping off cars. She's getting the full run here. I don't think I've seen a movie like this where the woman really does kick ass. I've seen men do it, but I've never seen a woman do the things that Angelina does in this movie. And I don't know how she does it. She's committed in a way that not that many actors are. I love doing action movies. I've always loved to run and jump around and be physical, and so I got really lucky early in my career that I got offered roles where I could train for fighting. Angelina's a superstar, but she's afraid of nothing. She'll try anything. She never says no, only yes. The name of Soviet agent is Salt. My name is Evelyn Salt. Then you are a Russian spy. When Angelina started preparation for Salt, she was just several months after giving birth to her two twins. So she had to, first of all, go through a whole physical re-acclimation. It takes a lot of fitness to do the kind of things that you see her doing here in Salt. That involved her working with Simon Crane, who, over many months, prepared Angelina to a fitness level that she would need. On different films I've been in, people kind of focus you on, you should do a lot of this or have an all-protein, or on some Tomb Raiders, they said like, you're not allowed to eat this, you're not allowed to have a glass of wine. And I've realized that if you're running around and doing as much as we're doing, just don't listen to any of it and eat everything you love. So no, I'm a bacon and eggs kind of person. Angelina's working every day. It was very difficult to get her, and often we had to get her on the weekends or when she wasn't shooting, which just makes everyone tired. So it's just, it's hard work all around. What we had to do was try to make her really physically tough. In the past, I've done some of the female action movies. They've been a little female and it's been nice, but that with her, we wanted to make her mean. And mean is usually not how a woman fights, but we decided that Salt was mean. She wanted a certain style, a more real action, rather than, say, some of the Mission Impossibles or the old type of James Bond films. And so it's not as much that your kick can go this high, it's that your kick's low and it breaks somebody's leg. There's nothing flashy and there's nothing pretty about it. After all, she demolishes an army of opponents single-handedly, usually in hand-to-hand fighting, using a variety of techniques. In this film, we were looking for a different fight style for her. Because I'm a girl and I'm light on my feet and I'm very long, we naturally went to styles like Muay Thai, which is very kind of long and beautiful, but then we realized that it wasn't as practical a fight if you had to have face-to-face combat. We then hardened it up with Krav Maga and a very brutal street fighting style. So she's got this combination of the two and I think it's a good mix. It's a lot more energy. It takes a lot more physical energy to throw a bigger punch and throw your body into it. She's very good at doing it. I wouldn't want to come up against her, I've got to say. Three, two, one, action! What we're trying to do here is really put Angelina in the thick of the action. Simon Crane, who I've worked with for quite a few films, we have so much trust, so they can hang me off the side of a building or on a moving car or anything and I trust that I'm going to be safe so I can just play. It's like, what the hell do you do? Do you go forward? Do you go back? What do you do? Each of the sequences was rehearsed over and over again, concentrating on each of the dynamic moves that Angelina would have to make in the movie. She's very game for everything. She trusts me, she trusts my team and if we say it's safe, she believes it and it is. We put Salt's apartment on the 12th floor and then I went out on the top of the building and looked down and said to Angelina, well, I guess we'll film a blue screen plate and put you on a stage and then we'll insert the drop behind you and Angie turned to me and said, what do you mean? I want to do this. And I'm thinking, she wants to walk around the edge of a 12-storey building, she wants to go from ledge to ledge for real and I mean, I just looked down there and I felt sick. I tried to talk her out of it but she wouldn't take no for an answer and so one month later, there we are as Angelina Jolie, for real, not a stunt woman, without a net, with no blue screen, she's doing it. I had nightmares. I happen to like heights and we found these moments where I can use that and play and it'll look cool on a film. She's very game with heights and has no fear, unlike most people and she did pretty well. Stop! On the ground! There's nowhere to run! One of the sequences involved Angelina leaping from one truck to another to another. Eventually coming off, going onto a motorbike. Angelina's great, she's very game for this kind of stuff and really gets into the action, it's really good fun. All of the shots are with her on top of these various vehicles. There's nothing you can do to prepare for hanging off the side of a truck except just do it, have some fun with it. Angelina combines the skills of a great dramatic actress with an ability to perform action sequences as convincingly, as hard-hittingly, with as much power as any male movie star out there and that's a rare combination. I think it's always great when the movie star is willing to put themselves out because it makes you stay in the moment even more as an audience member. It's great to work with somebody who really wants to push the boundaries. Did you know Angelina Jolie was actually a bit of a rebel when she was younger? The star was reportedly kicked out of high school at 14, dyed her hair purple and moved in with her boyfriend. She married actor Johnny Lee Miller in 1996 and turned up for the wedding in a leather trousers and a white shirt upon which he had written Lee's name in her own blood. Remember to click here below to subscribe or on the site for more great content.