‘Ghosted’ Director Dexter Fletcher in Major Star Cameos Explained

(Editor’s note: This story contains More significant spoilers “Ghosted”.)

Star power is hardly lacking in Dexter Fletcher’s “Ghosted,” which reunites “Knives Out” co-stars Chris Evans and Ana de Armas as would-be lovers who meet cutely, go on a great date, and then break up. apart from the revelation that one of them (twist: it’s de Armas!) is an American spy who, understandably, doesn’t really have time for love.

But when Evans’ unlucky love interest Cole decides to go after De Armas’ Sadie, he believes she’s simply on a business trip and would appreciate his grand romantic gesture. What follows is an action-adventure story with a dash of romance and plenty of big, hot stuff as the pair are thrust into a globe-trotting spy thriller.

But Evans and de Armas aren’t the only big names in the film — everyone from Adrien Brody and Amy Sedaris to Tate Donovan and Tim Blake Nelson are in it — and the film is rounded out by a number of very fashionable stars. . You can probably guess at least two of them (cough, Marvel, cough), but there are a few surprises in store.

Connected

Connected

In a recent interview with IndieWire, Fletcher was more than happy to unpack the casting and planning behind these cameos, including one that was particularly close to his heart.

(Another warning: this story contains More significant spoilers “Ghosted”.)

Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan

During the first act of the film, when Cole and Sadie are forced to go on the run, the pair run into many bad guys, other spies, assassins and assassins, all played by some familiar faces, including Evans. Marvel’s own brothers Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. “There’s no hiding the fact that there’s this Marvel connection to begin with, certainly with Sebastian and Anthony,” Fletcher said.

But that doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to get it. Fletcher noted that the script, written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Chris McKenna, and Erik Sommers, included high-stakes suggestions about who could take on the roles for maximum cameo impact.

“There was a kind of suggestion in the script: ‘This should there should be someone like that,” he said. “They didn’t say catch him that person, and we didn’t end up with these (same) people, but there were some really amazing suggestions that we tried. Some of them were people I worked with many, many years ago and I invited (to them), but it was really about who was available. It was really more about juggling time.”

Evans personally invited Mackie to the concert. “We were talking about different names and Chris said, ‘I’m going to call Mackie and tell him to come over and do it!’ Fletcher recalled. “They thought it was so funny and they are funny together. And Mackie says, “We’re shooting for that night? If I had known, I would never have come! And they just laugh, but I’m honestly shocked. And everyone’s like, “Okay, he’s kidding. Do not worry about it.”

John Cho

For the third bad guy role in the first act, Fletcher said he just fell for it. Loves John Cho. Everyone else was excited for him. Why not just ask John Cho? Sometimes it’s that simple.

“He was like, ‘We love John Cho, do you think we could ask him?’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know him.’ “Well, we can ask.” And she said yes! So it was good,” Fletcher said with a laugh.

Apple TV+

Ryan Reynolds

Don’t threaten Ryan Reynolds with a cameo, he loves them. Reynolds, who appears in the film’s final act as one of Sadie’s ex-boyfriends (they are all involved in the spy game and most are injured on the job), was originally slated to take on one of the earlier cameo parts. went to see Mackie and Stan. Scheduling prevented that from happening, though Reynolds didn’t exactly get the message.

“Then Ryan said, ‘Hey, where do I come to do my job?’ Fletcher said. “We said, ‘Well, we kind of did it.’ He says, “No, I’m coming to do it!” So we think, “We have an idea that Sadie has ex-boyfriends who keep losing body parts.”

Fletcher originally wanted to just strip Reynolds’ character, but when the actor joined the set, he wanted to take the gagging of lost body parts to crazier ends. He’s like, ‘I’m going to do this whole thing, he lost his penis,'” Fletcher said. “And I was like, ‘Okay, great!’ And so he just improvised. It’s very much in the moment. It was brilliant. There’s so much more of it on the cutting room floor, it’s a whole movie of its own.” Sequel?

Dexter Fletcher

The final cameo? Fletcher himself, appearing in the trunk of Sadie’s car – clearly a bad guy! – during the last frame of the film. How did it happen? Well, it doesn’t really need much explanation, but Fletcher must be tickled that people noticed he was in the trunk. “Oh, did you notice that?” Fletcher said with a chuckle.

“Ghosted” is now streaming on Apple TV+.

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