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MCU vets Chris Evans & Scarlett Johansson reassembling for space race flick 'Project Artemis'
The project will be directed by Ozark's Jason Bateman.
Two members of the Avengers are reassembling for a trip back to outer space. Except this time they won't be fighting Thanos, but communism...probably. According to Deadline, both Chris Evans (Captain America: The First Avenger) and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) will dive headfirst into the heated Cold War competition to reach the stars in Project Artemis.
The Apple-produced feature is said to take place against the backdrop of the space race between the United States and Soviet Union that culminated with the Americans landing a pair of astronauts on the Moon in the summer of 1969. No other plot details were made available at this time, though Evans did confirm the news on Twitter, writing that he is "Very excited!!!"
Marty Byrde himself, Jason Bateman (Ozark), is attached to direct from a screenplay penned by Rose Gilroy, daughter of filmmaker Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler) and another Marvel Cinematic Universe player, Rene Russo (Thor). Johansson is also serving as producer under her These Pictures banner, alongside Jonathan Lia and Keenan Flynn. Bateman will produce via his Aggregate Films company.
This is Johansson's second acting/producing collaboration with Apple, which purchased Bride (described as a science fiction drama) back in October 2020 from the longtime MCU vet and A24. Sebastián Lelio (Disobedience) has been tapped to direct the Frankenstein-esque tale of a woman (Johansson) created to be the perfect wife who breaks free from her creator.
Apple — which reportedly scooped up Project Artemis for a hefty $100+ million — bagged a Best Picture win for CODA at this year's Academy Awards, making it the first streaming platform to take home the top Oscar prize in the history of the annual awards ceremony.
NASA does have an official "Artemis" designation for missions dedicated to returning Americans to the Moon (and possibly beyond), including women and people of color.
Evans and Johansson were originally slated to team back up for a different Apple movie entitled Ghosted. The latter was forced to bow out of the project (now in production), paving the way for a Knives Out reunion between Evans and Ana de Armas. While Evans and Johansson are best-known for sharing the screen as Earth's Mightiest Heroes, their professional relationship goes back nearly two decades to the release of The Perfect Score in 2004.
"It was so nice to work with you, because I felt we had great chemistry as actors, and there was a naturalistic approach that I felt," Johansson remarked during a conversation with her Marvel co-star in 2019.
