News > Peter Berg to Helm Edwin A. Salt

Written by David Morgan

Actor-director Peter Berg is in talks to direct Columbia Pictures' Edwin A. Salt, which is being tailored as a star-vehicle for Tom Cruise. According to Entertainment Weekly, Michael Mann left the project a few weeks ago to work on Public Enemies with Johnny Depp. Now Berg, who appeared in the last Mann-Cruise collaboration Collateral and recently directed The Kingdom, is being approached to take the reigns.

Columbia is hoping to get production started by March to avoid any run-ins with the potential actor's strike coming next spring. EW describes Kurt Wimmer's screenplay as "solid", which is something of a contradiction with previous reports that said Mann left the project because he felt it needed a rewrite.

Berg also recently worked for Columbia on the Will Smith-Charlize Theron-Jason Bateman superhero flick Hancock.