How Chris Evans And Ana De Armas' Real-Life Friendship Impacted Ghosted, According To The Director
As shown by the trailer for Apple TV+'s Ghosted, the film reunites Chris Evans with Ana de Armas. The action comedy centers on a man who falls for woman and -- after not hearing from her for a while -- discovers that she’s a secret agent. Evans previously worked with de Armas in Knives Out and The Gray Man, in which both gave solid performances. Chemistry like theirs is something that most directors would probably want with their leads, and Dexter Fletcher shared some insight into how it impacted the film.
Whenever the two stars appear together, they seem to have the best time. However, someone could theoretically argue that they're just playing nice for the cameras. That's not the case, though, thankfully, as Dexter Fletcher explained. The filmmaker appeared on the latest episode of our ReelBlend podcast and initially joked about the bond between the two stars. But when getting serious, he recalled that everyone on set could tell just how close the A-listers are:
The truth is they can't stand each other. They're like cat and dog! They're like oil and water! These two, they don't even want to be near each other! ... You're ahead of the game with these two, because they're great friends. And in fact, almost to the point where they're sitting in the corner on their chairs, just laughing at some random thing that only they get and they know is very funny between the two of them. And the rest of us stand around, you know, looking slightly bemused. And one of them is making the joke, and the other is getting it.
Considering their past work and friendship, it makes sense as to why the producers would be down to pair up the two Knives Out alums. Plus, as even their director explained during the interview, the two are downright delightful together during press junkets. Social media posts also give you the impression that they enjoyed their time working on this production. Ana de Armas celebrated her birthday on the set of Ghosted and, when they wrapped Chris Evans posted celebratory emojis under the actress’ post, which marked the end of the shoot.
The two share more than jokes, though, per their director. During his interview, he explained that they also possess mutual respect for each other:
[Their bond] does bode well for the project, but, also, they're great admirers of each other as well. I think Chris was really excited for [Ana] that she was stepping up in this way, that people are really excited about after Bond, talk about Ballerina. There's a real push for like, 'Oh, she's gonna be that person. She's got those chops.' And she equally found it hysterically funny with him dragging around his luggage, falling over himself, swallowing rocks and being generally pretty inept. And so that was a lot of the fun of it as well. They're really kind of like admirers of each other. It sounds kind of corny to say, maybe, but it's one of the lovely facts of it. So I was very lucky.
Believe it or not, Dexter Fletcher nearly didn't have these particular two in the movie. As he recalled in the same interview, Chris Evans was originally going to be paired with Scarlett Johansson, before she exited due to scheduling conflicts. Apparently, the John Wick spinoff, Ballerina, made it possible for Ana de Armas to join, as the schedule for that film shifted. While Johansson probably would've done a solid job as well, I can't complain with de Armas taking over. You can see the filmmaker's full interview down below:
Though Ghosted has received mixed to negative reviews from critics, some fans across social media seem taken with Chris Evans and Ana de Armas' pairing. Hopefully, this won't be the last time that the two friends team up for another major movie. You can check out their latest right now using an Apple TV+ subscription, and take a look at the schedule of 2023 new movie releases for info on other upcoming films.
