If you've seen Ghosted, the new Apple TV+ action flick with Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, one of the highlights is a sequence of cameos. Director Dexter Fletcher has the answers for how those came to be and the intention of having that sequence.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Ghosted.
At about the halfway point of Ghosted, Cole (Evans) is targeted by bounty hunters. The first to arrive on the scene is played by Anthony Mackie, who plays the Falcon/the new Captain America in the MCU. He's then attacked by John Cho of Searching before he's taken out by a bounty hunter played by Sebastian Stan — Steve Rodgers' best friend in the MCU better known as the Winter Soldier. They all have ridiculous names that Cole mockingly compares to WWE names (If I could name them I would).
But these cameos are brilliant because the actors' names are nowhere to be found in the cast list — though Evans may have given away too much on an appearance on Good Morning America, as he teased that some of his MCU cohorts would be in the film. As someone with no knowledge or expectations of these cameos, it was so much fun seeing them pop up.
In my interview with Fletcher, I asked about those cameos and how they came to be. After all, the two duos that wrote the film all had connections to some of those actors. Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers both wrote the MCU Spider-Man trilogy while Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick both wrote the Deadpool films — which may explain a later cameo.
“Well, certainly I was keen [on having the cameos],” said Fletcher. “In the script, it mentioned people that they [the writers] would like it to be [Mackey, Cho, Stan, and Reynolds], [and that] at least [they would at least like to] kind of a wink [to the audience], as those Deadpool guys [Reese and Mernick] are the absolute experts at [answering the question of] how do you put your tongue in your cheek and wink at the audience, but at the same time, not undermine it?”
Speaking on the importance of the cameos and not just using them as an excuse to get more A-listers in the cast, Fletcher said, “But my approach was this sequence is really important for Cole to understand how dangerous the situation he's in [is]. So I treat it, those [actors], not as the cameos that they are — I just treated 'em like actors playing those roles. [I] designed costumes with them, talked about who they were and all that kind of stuff. I think it helps the movie for it because they all just came and played those parts.”
The actors themselves, however, were totally bought in as well. “it's John [Cho], Anthony [Mackie], and Sebastian [Stan], [and] they just had fun playing those characters. I think we made them such great characters that they were like, ‘Oh, this is an acting gig. I'm not just turning up to be myself.' They played parts and I think the film benefits from that,” said Fletcher.
The final cameo comes later in the film, that being Ryan Reynolds. It feels like he appears in every movie, so it's not hard to envision him being a fellow spy that was Sadie (de Armas)'s ex. Fletcher described Reynolds' mindset as the same as the other actors, but accredited his appearance to his existing friendship with Evans. “he [Reynolds] and Chris are old buddies, they had [done] Free Guy, [and] that was a situation where Ryan said to me [that] he picked up the phone [and called] Evans and said, ‘I need you tomorrow,' and Evans went, ‘I'm there.'” It looks like Reynolds repaid the favor, “so he [Reynolds] said to me, “When Evans told me about this, I was just there. It wasn't even a question.”
But maybe even more so than the others, Reynolds was very hands-on with the creation of his character. Reynolds apparently wrote his scene after being told about the other cameos in the film. “He said, ‘Oh man, I could be an ex-boyfriend [laughs]. He's got an eye patch and body parts keep getting removed — hands are getting removed,” revealed Fletcher. And the rest is history. Reynolds' character lost a finger and sports an eyepatch throughout his brief appearance in the film.
In summary, Dexter Fletcher was aware of the potential distraction that cameos can cause — especially when they're meaningless. “Obviously, you worry like, ‘Does this take us out?‘ but it feels like the movie supports it.”
And he's right — Ghosted is a prime example of how to do cameos that are funny and mean something. Good thing Anthony Mackie, John Cho, Sebastian Stan, and Ryan Reynolds answered the bell and didn't air Chris Evans' messages.
Ghosted is streaming on Apple TV+ now.
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