Unfortunately, a Marvel reunion will not be happening, but a Knives Out one will be. Ana de Armas will now officially replace Scarlett Johansson to star opposite Chris Evans in Ghosted, a new romantic action-adventure film for Apple TV Plus.
The Apple TV Plus film will be directed by Dexter Fletcher, who helmed Rocketman and finished filming Bohemian Rhapsody, and will be written by Deadpool and Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Evans will produce the film alongside Skydance's Dave Ellison, who is best known for producing the Mission: Impossible Films. De Armas will also serve as executive producer on the project.
Apple acquired Ghosted this past summer, and with the intent to get production rolling this upcoming February, Johansson's schedule, unfortunately, couldn't make it work. Deadline's report also indicates that Ellison made a strong push to bring in de Armas, who has become one of Hollywood's most exciting young stars to look out for. De Armas had her breakout roles in War Dogs and Blade Runner 2049 before going on to star in other acclaimed works such as Knives Out and No Time to Die. The actress is set to star in the upcoming Blonde, Deep Water, and in the Russo Brothers' The Gray Man for Netflix, alongside Evans and Ryan Gosling. De Armas will also lead the John Wick spinoff Ballerina.
While not too many details have surfaced because the project is very early in development, Ghosted is being compared to other adventure films like Romancing the Stone, Michael Douglas' and Kathleen Turner's 1984 box office hit. Having two stars who have now worked on a couple of films together, it'll be interesting to see how their chemistry translates over to this new film. As for Johansson, the Marvel star will lead Wes Anderson's next feature, Asteroid City, while also being credited in the voice cast in the upcoming animated film, Sing 2.
Johansson will also team up with Marvel Studios to produce a secret Marvel project unrelated to her Black Widow character. Johansson's return to Marvel is noteworthy due to the actress filing a lawsuit against Disney in July over an alleged contract breach, as Black Widow was released on Disney Plus at the same time it was playing in theaters. Reports later confirmed that the two parties reached an agreement.
With Ghosted now added to their platform, Apple TV Plus continues to impress with its high-budget features, having recently filmed Martin Scorsese's western crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, which will star Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. The streamer is also now in production on Emancipation, a slave drama starring Will Smith and directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Shooter, The Equalizer), and it is also behind Ridley Scott's upcoming drama Kitbag, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Napolean Bonaparte and Jodie Comer as Josephine.
Ghosted is currently in development.
Source: Deadline