Big roles in Hollywood movies switch hands all the time, but it's not often they bend genders. But that's what will be happening with Edwin A. Salt, an upcoming thriller by Philip Noyce that was set to star Tom Cruise. It will now feature Angelina Jolie in the role originally earmarked for Cruise.
Ms Jolie won't be wearing any prosthetic anythings; the script is being re-written to make the lead character a woman. Obviously the title will also be changed, although they could just move that first 'A' a smidge to the left and all would be well.
The plot of Edwin A. Salt concerns a CIA agent who's accused by his (now her) employers of being a Russian spy, putting Salt on the run while he/she fights to clear his/her name. Cruise had been long circling the project, but recently chose not to sign up.
This could be seen as a significant step for women in Hollywood. There is already a definite shortage of female leading roles in big budget films, but it's all but unheard of for male roles to be re-written for women (we can recall it working the other way round when a role in The Game written for Jodie Foster was re-tooled for Sean Penn). Cruise is still, no matter how people might joke about him, one of the most bankable actors in the world, so for a studio to move from him to Angelina Jolie shows a great deal of faith in an actress being able to open a movie. Whether it would happen for an actress with equal talent but fewer male admirers, who knows – would the same thing happen for a Reese Witherspoon or even a Julia Roberts? – but this has got to be a good thing, right?