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Hollywood star Angelina Jolie on Sunday delighted Russians as she arrived in Moscow to promote her thriller movie where she plays a "big hero" Russian spy two weeks after a real-life espionage swap fascinated the world.
In Moscow on the heels of the biggest spy exchange between Russia and the United States since the end of the Cold War, Jolie said her playing a Russian in the spy thriller movie "Salt" was a good thing for the country.
"Maybe there are some bad guys that are Russians but if you look closely the big hero is Russian," Jolie, wearing a red strapless dress that revealed some her famous tattooes, said at the premier in central Moscow.
"So I think it's very positive for Russia," she said.
With her latest fast-paced action movie, Jolie is essentially bucking the Hollywood trend by playing a good Russian.
She plays CIA officer Evelyn Salt, who turns out to be a Russian spy. Her real name is Chenkov and she was trained since childhood for a mission which has the ultimate goal of preparing for war against the United States.
Dedicated to the mission, Chenkov-Salt however turns against her Russian spy master and fellow sleeper spies when they kill her German husband whom she is deeply attached to.
For the movie -- and the premier -- Jolie had to learn some Russian, she said.
"Dobry vecher!" (Good evening), she greeted the audience before the start of the film. "I tried to speak a bit of Russian. Hope I did OK."
The spy movie hits the screens just two weeks after the spy swap between Russia and the United States during which Washington busted and deported 10 real-life Kremlin sleeper spies.
Jolie spoke just hours after Russia's high-profile Prime Minister Vladimir Putin revealed he gave a heroes' welcome to the 10 spies, meeting them for a heart-to-heart talk.
Putin and the sleeper spies sang Soviet-era patriotic songs, the premier said.
The film's crew said they were fascinated with the notion of the Russian sleeper agents.
"There’s something really mysterious and sexy about the notion that somebody could lie in wait -- for decades, if necessary," producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was quoted as saying by Sony Pictures.
