From KCRW in Santa Monica, this is The Treatment.

Welcome to The Treatment.

You can also hear the show at KCRW.com.

Going back to his days as a documentary filmmaker from through

films like newsfront to a clear and present danger and Patriot games, the films he made in this

last decade, which include rabbitproof fence and quiet American. Philip Norse has an eye, I think,

were taking stories that feel like it could come out of today's headlines and turning them into movies.

His newest film, Salt, starring

Angelina Jolie, feels especially like that. It starts with a prisoner exchange that could

have been taken right off CNN. First of all, Phil, thanks so much for coming back.

Pleasure to be here again. You do still kind of train a journalist eye on the stories that you do.

They all feel like they could be, to some extent, almost documentaries if they weren't, in fact, fictional pieces.

Well, of course, the story of Salt, which is the story of a CIA clandestine operative played by Angelina Jolie, who plays Evelyn Salt, is the story of a woman who is accused of being a Russian sleeper spy.

And of course, up until about two weeks ago, when people saw the movie, they would have said,

come on, you're kidding.

This could never happen in the real world.

Of course, weeks ago, 11 alleged Russian spies were arrested in New York City.

And some of them looked and behaved just like Angelina's American spy in insult.

Of course, she's accused of being a Russian spy.

You've got to go to the movie to see whether she really is.

But, yeah, you know, in all the movies that I've made, I've always sort of gone back to research

to try and give the actors and the

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