Chris Evans still laughs at the memory.
It wasAna de Armas’ birthday, and the two protagonists of the romantic comedy “Ghosted” (streaming Friday on Apple TV+) were shooting a scene that found them marooned on an exotic desert island.
Except the castaways were hardly in paradise.
“Let’s just say the water was not that clear,” says de Armas, 34.
“No, not at all, it was a murky harbor somewhere outside Atlanta,” says Evans, 41. “They did a great job of prettying that up, even if it was just some sand and a little water. But it was a nighttime shoot, it was her birthday, and we had some fun.”
The resulting scene looks like an ad for a Tahitian retreat. "It's just a testament to what Dexter (Fletcher, who also directed the Elton John biopic "Rocketman") could do with the resources he got," says de Armas. "He made the best of what he had."
Chris Evans and Ana de Armas teamed up previously in 'Knives Out' and 'The Gray Man'
Contrary to its title, "Ghosted" is not a rom-com that focuses entirely on how someone suddenly "ghosts," or ignores, another person's calls or texts after a date.
Playing largely against type, Evans is Cole, a salt-of-the-earth farmerwho falls for Armas’ enigmatic Sadie after they squabble over the best way to keep plants alive.
After one great date, Sadie decides it's best to not respond to Cole's texts. Smitten, hetracks her down in London, a decision that immediately pits the two of them in a battle to save the planet from maniacal terrorist Leveque (Adrien Brody).
This is in fact the third time Evans, Marvel’s intrepid Captain America, and de Armas, Oscar-nominatedfor “Blonde,” have teamed up.
The duo met during rehearsals for Rian Johnson’s first “Knives Out” movie in 2018, a Hollywood breakthrough for Cuban-born de Armas. Then the pair reunited for 2022’s “The Gray Man,” a Netflix action extravaganza best known for its $200 million budget.
Although de Armas was a relative unknown before “Knives Out,” Evans predicted success.
“It was terrifying being on that set with all those big stars,” says Evans of a cast that included Daniel Craig and Jamie Lee Curtis. “Ana was the center cog, but she handled it so effortlessly. It was clear she was going to be a big star.”
'Blonde' starmissed much of the Oscar hoopla while shooting her 'John Wick' spinoff
For her part, de Armas says her role choices since that film have been deliberately offbeat.
“I always try to choose things that are not what the industry expects of me,” she says. “Usually, producers want you to repeat a formula. I try not to do that.”
That method has served her well. The actresses’ only regret was being tethered inPragueshooting the “John Wick” spinoff “Ballerina” with Keanu Reeves just as news broke of that Oscar nomination for her “Blonde” portrayal of Marilyn Monroe.
“I was getting text messages from my team and people were screaming but I felt I missed the time of bonding with the rest of the (nominee) group,” she says. “By the time I got to Los Angeles just before the Oscars, I was rushing to get to know everybody. But it was really special.”
Ana de Armas enjoys getting her Tom Cruise on for stunts
De Armas handles most of the bad guy-dispatching action, leaving Evans to bumble around in a comic manner wholly unbecoming of a superhero. She got a taste of stunts during “Gray Man” as well as a small role (as Paloma) in the 2021 James Bond film“No Time to Die”but pushed herself further in “Ghosted.”
“It’s demanding and painful and your body is hurting everywhere, but it’s also very rewarding as I saw myself getting better at it,” she says. “Besides, it’s fun. And if I just go say my lines and someone else does the stunts, I’m missing that fun.”
That said, de Armas laughs and notes that she’s “not at a Tom Cruise level yet. But I can appreciate what he does 100% now, and I totally get why he does it. He’s so mind-blowing.”
Chris Evans shedhis beefy Captain America demeanor for 'Ghosted' role
Evans says he enjoyed morphing from hunk to hunky dork.
“I’m used to playing characters who are capable of saving the day, but in this movie, my character is the one who needs saving,” he says. “It was really fun to play someone who is really human, who would react the way most of us would to danger, which is to panic.”
In going after her villain (played by Brody), de Armas’ Sadie bounces around the globe, from Washington to London to the Himalayas. But other than a very quick trip for Evans to London, every foreign locale in “Ghosted” was conjured on a set or in a computer.
“We were in Atlanta for three months but it looks like we were in five countries, so it shows there are different ways of making cinema and putting the money on the screen,” says de Armas.
Evans can’t help but joke: In one “Ghosted” scene, the duo walk into a tunnel in London and somehow emerge in the Himalayas. Please explain, Captain America.
“It was a very, very long tunnel,” he says with a laugh.
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