Phillip Noyce, the Oz director behind "Clear and Present Danger" and "The Bone Collector", is in final negotiations to direct "Edwin A. Salt" - the political thriller that has been doing the rounds for some time now. Scripted by Kurt Wimmer (writer, director of "Equilibrium"), the Columbia Pictures property has long been put aside for Tom Cruise as a new starring vehicle.
After directors Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda") and Peter Berg ("Hancock"), both bailed on "Edwin A. Salt", the studio have turned to Noyce, no stranger to highly-charged political whodunits, to resurrect the property. And this move may secure Cruise's signature too. Both Noyce and Cruise were set to make "The 28th Amendment" for Warner Brothers but now both director and star could refocus their energies on this one.
"Salt" will cast Cruise as a CIA officer who's accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper spy. He must elude capture long enough to in order to clear his name.