MOVIE NEWS – Actress Ana de Armas is in talks with producers for the lead role in the ‘John Wick’ spinoff ‘Ballerina’. Film director Len Wiseman will direct the Lionsgate project.

Ana de Armas’ career is undoubtedly on the up: the Cuban-born actress starred in Denis Villeneuve’s The Bounty Hunter 2049 four years ago, and many people got to know her as the female lead in The Body Snatcher. Following the crime comedy, she reappeared alongside Daniel Craig in a small but memorable role in the new James Bond film No Time to Die, which will debut in cinemas at the end of September. She will also be seen in the Russo brothers’ upcoming thriller The Gray Man. Industry rumours now suggest that Armas could also star in the female-led John Wick spinoff, Ballerina.

Deadline reports that the actress is currently in talks with Lionsgate Studios, and the leak of the negotiations could mean that she could well land the role, which Chloë Grace Moretz has previously mooted. In John Wick: Act 3 – Parabellum, Unity Phelan played the character Ballerina, but she is not an actress; she is a ballerina in real life. The spinoff script will be written by Shay Hatten, who also wrote John Wick 3 and the upcoming John Wick 4-5, with Len Wiseman (Underworld) in the director’s chair.

No word yet on an expected release date or plot details for Ballerina, but it is expected to star a hitwoman who seeks revenge for her family. It’s also unknown whether franchise star Keanu Reeves, who is writing the spinoff as a proxy, will appear in the film. Still, we won’t have to wait much longer to see Reeves as John Wick again, as filming on the fourth act (which was shot at the same time as the fifth) has just wrapped and is scheduled to hit theatres on May 27, 2022. And the universe of films is not only expanding with the female-led spinoff: a prequel series titled The Continental is also in the works.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter