Chris Evans Cast In Anticipated Dwayne Johnson Movie As Co-Lead
Both Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson are currently highly in demand.
This article is more than 2 years old
Film star Chris Evans has been cast in a new Dwayne Johnson film. Per Deadline, the once (and perhaps future) Captain America is set to co-lead the upcoming Red One. The movie will be produced by Amazon Studios and will reportedly begin shooting this year. Details are extremely scarce, but it is apparently a holiday-centered action-adventure film, appealing to all four quadrants of consumers. That is a pretty broad description and does not really give a hint as to what it is about. But given that it will star at least one Avenger and the erstwhile Hobbs of the Fast & Furious franchise, it already has plenty of appeal built in.
Both Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson are currently highly in demand. While Johnson has recently been displaced as the highest-paid influencer on Instagram (by football player Cristiano Ronaldo), he has a full slate of projects coming up. So many in fact that Dwayne Johnson even has another project with “red” in the title. It was recently announced that Netflix is filming back-to-back sequels to Red Notice. That film starring Johnson, Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot and Deadpool’s Ryan Reynolds was enormously popular for the digital streaming giant.
No surprise that they would leap at the chance to make a couple of sequels even while Johnson is preparing a different movie associated with the color Red for Amazon, one of their biggest competitors. When you factor in that he is also starring in Warner Bros upcoming DCEU film Black Adam, Johson is really maximizing performance across every platform.
Chris Evans is nearly as busy. 2019’s Avengers: Endgame seems to have wrapped up the actor’s Marvel Cinematic Universe stint as Captain America, though Marvel Studios’ Phase Four plans could make anything possible. Also in 2019, Evans starred in the ensemble mystery film Knives Out by director Rian Johnson. His performance as a smarmy, cable-knit sweater-wearing trust fund kid was critically acclaimed. A sequel to that film, also by Rian Johnson, is set to be released this year.
While Chris Evans will not reprise his role in that movie, he will be taking over the role of Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear from Tim Allen. Unlike most times when a role switches from one actor to another, the upcoming Lightyear will confusingly have Evans playing a real-life astronaut named Buzz Lightyear who inspired the Pixar Film’s toy. But it’s still animated. It’s kind of weird.
Aside from Lightyear (you can check out the trailer here), Chris Evans is also set to portray screen legend Gene Kelly in an untitled movie. Reportedly, this project is Evans’ own idea and will involve him playing an imaginary version of Kelly to a child at the MGM lots in 1952. Gene Kelly was one of the finest song and dance men of his generation, starring in Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris and Brigadoon. So it will be interesting to see if Evans has the chops to convincingly play a fantasy version of the legend. It will also be interesting to see Evans and Dwayne Johnson team up for whatever Red One turns out to be about, but we will just have to wait and see.
