Chris Evans recruited Ana de Armas when Scarlett Johansson dropped out of ‘Ghosted’
Director Dexter Fletcher has revealed that Scarlett Johansson was initially meant to play the female lead in his new film, Ghosted, alongside her real-life friend Chris Evans.
However, after scheduling conflicts caused the star to drop out, Fletcher encouraged Evans to recruit another one of his friends and past co-stars, Ana de Armas.
The movie, made for Apple TV Plus, sees Evans plays a farmer who falls for de Armas, who turns out to be a secret agent. The pair hit it off before ending up on an action-filled adventure.
Talking to the Hollywood Reporter, Fletcher said: “I was lucky enough to get on well with Chris and meet him, and he was like: ‘Look, Scarlett is a great friend. I’m just gonna ask Scarlett’. And obviously, I had no objections to that pairing, and for a while there, it seemed really positive and very good … [Scarlett] was engaged, she was giving great notes on the script and the ideas were flowing during great meetings. But as tends to happen, schedules change, and then suddenly, we went: ‘Oh no, that’s not gonna work,’ which was difficult.”
He continued: “I very quickly said to Chris: ‘What about Ana?’ And he went: ‘I know Ana’. And I was like: ‘Yeah, I know you do!’ I’d seen her in No Time to Die, and I knew she was doing Blonde. I also loved her in Blade Runner 2049. So that became a very quick conversation, and using his friendship, Chris picked up the phone.”
“So, unfortunately, [Scarlett] only had that window of availability, and that was it. But we weren’t like: ‘Okay, let’s go out and find as many actors who are mates with Chris Evans as we possibly can and then throw a rock to see which one we hit’. It was really just good fortune that Ana had a window of opportunity, and they’re such great friends. So it was pretty straightforward,” Fletcher added.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.