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Ana De Armas In, Scarlett Johansson Exits Apple’s Chris Evans-Starrer ‘Ghosted’ With Dexter Fletcher Directing, Skydance Producing

EXCLUSIVE: A different kind of reteam is in store for Ghosted, the Apple Original Films romantic action adventure film to be helmed by Dexter Fletcher. Ana de Armas will reteam with her Knives Out co-star Chris Evans in the film. Scarlett Johansson, Evans’ oft-collaborator in the Marvel movies, has amicably exited the picture in what sources describe as a scheduling conflict.

Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger are producing, along with Jules Daly. Evans will serve as producer and de Armas as an executive producer. The film’s writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool, Zombieland), will also be producers. They developed the project based on an original idea of theirs and preemptively sold it to Skydance.

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Apple acquired the high-profile project over the summer. It is described as a high concept romantic action adventure film. The change comes because the intent is to get the picture into production by February, and the timing didn’t work out for Johansson. Ellison led the charge to bring in de Armas, who’s about as hot an actress out there right now after Knives Out and No Time to Die, and Blonde. She most recently starred with Evans and Ryan Gosling in the Joe and Anthony Russo-directed The Gray Man for Netflix. She has also been in talks to play the lead in the John Wick spinoff Ballerina.

Skydance is coming off the Chris Pratt-starrer The Tomorrow War, the Michael B. Jordan-starrer Without Remorse, and has set Victoria Mahoney to direct Old Guard 2. Fletcher directed Rocketman and completed Bohemian Rhapsody.

Apple has several buzzworthy awards season titles including CODA, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Swan Song and Finch, with other big films coming in the Martin Scorsese-directed Killers of the Flower Moon, the Will Smith-Antoine Fuqua film Emancipation, and the Ridley Scott-directed Kitbag with Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte and Jodie Comer as his wife Josephine.

De Armas is repped by CAA and Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks.

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