Australian director Philippe Noyce was on Sydney to pomote his latest film, Salt. The spy thriller stars Hollywood A-lister Angelina Jolie as the protagonist Evelyn Salt , a CIA officer accused of being a sleeper agent for Russians.

The sixty-year old Noyce last worked with Jolie ten years ago on The Bone Collector.

"[Angelina] had always wanted to play James Bond," Noyce told Herald Sun Australia. "She had been offered to play a Bond girl and has always said she would prefer to be Bond himself or a character like him."

Salt was originally a male named Edwin Salt, but was rewritten to accomodate Jolie.

Noyce had a successful career in film and television in Australia before he move to Hollywood with his Dead Calm in 1989. The thriller helped to introduce Nicole Kidman overseas. In 2002, his film Rabbit Proof Fence won the 2002 AFI for Best film which focused on the Aboriginal stolen generations.