Cruise's Thriller Movie Rewritten For Jolie

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By Gillian Reagan

August 12, 2008 | 10:47 a.m.

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Tom Cruise has had plenty of roles as an ass-kicking government agent (the Mission Impossible movies, Minority Report, um... does Top Gun count? ). But he has been flashing his funny bone more often these days. So he turned down producers after flirting with a new thriller project. Now the role of a CIA agent accused of being a Russian spy could be rewritten for Angelina Jolie, who is currently in close talks with producers. In her first part since having twins, the puffy-lipped actress will sweeten the title role in Edwin A. Salt.

Screenwriter Kurt Wimmer (Thomas Crown Affair, Equilibrium) will be turning Edwin into...Edwina? Philip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, The Bone Collector) remains attached as director, according to Variety.

After Universal beefed up Jolie's role in "Wanted" and then marketed the action film squarely on Jolie's shoulders and watched it gross $132 million domestically, Jolie reestablished, in the wake of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," that she is the rare female who is viable in the action genre, which has been almost the exclusive domain of men.

"Edwin A. Salt" will undergo a title change, and if everything falls into place, the film shapes up as a return vehicle for Jolie, who recently gave birth to twins. Another candidate for her return is the Lionsgate drama "Atlas Shrugged," which has been adapted by Randall Wallace from the Ayn Rand novel.

But who needs a thinky film like Atlas Shrugged when you can be an action hero and get back that pre-twins bod?