New ‘Salt 2’ Writer Spent ‘Seven Years in Tibet’

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Columbia/Sony is still trying to make the Salt sequel a reality by hiring Becky Johnston. It’s an interesting choice and a pleasantly surprising one considering Johnston’s career legacy in adult dramas – particularly Seven Years in Tibet and The Prince of Tides. There’s no doubt that she’s a smart screenwriter, and it was a smart move for Columbia.

Admittedly part of that is from how indirect it is. They’ve hired an Oscar nominee with a great skill for character building to take on an action follow-up. That’s unexpected to say the least.

Of course, the goal here is to please star Angelina Jolie who wasn’t happy with the earlier version of the story turned in by Kurt Wimmer. If Johnston has the right take on the spy thriller, there’s a great chance that we’ll see Salt 2 put into production in the relatively near future.

Scott Beggs: Movie stuff at VanityFair, Thrillist, IndieWire, Film School Rejects, and The Broken Projector Podcast@brokenprojector | Writing short stories at Adventitious.