Dakota Fanning and Jake Johnson to star in upcoming romance drama from Joe Swanberg

Dakota Fanning and Jake Johnson are to star in an upcoming romance drama for director Joe Swanberg.

The 31-year-old actress and the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse star, 47, have signed on to the Uncle Kent filmmaker’s untitled romance movie, Deadline has said.

Cory Michael Smith, 38, is also said to be attached to the project.

While plot details about the film are unknown, Deadline reports the movie - which is being written by Swanberg - is set in several different locations across Alaska.

As well as starring in the flick, Fanning will produce alongside Swanberg and Ashleigh Snead, while Dan Johnson, Kathy Gitibin Parsa and Ariana Parsa serve as executive producers.

The upcoming film will be the fourth collaboration between Swanberg and Johnson, with the pair having worked together on 2013’s Drinking Buddies, Digging for Fire in 2015 and Win It All in 2017.

Dakota Fanning is known for her role in The Equalizer 3, where she stars opposite Denzel Washington’s grizzled Robert McCall as Emma Collins.

In the film, retired assassin Robert McCall (Washington) seeks peace in a quiet Italian town but discovers it’s under the grip of a violent mafia.

As danger escalates, he unleashes his brutal skills to protect the people he now calls family.

After The Equalizer 3 released in 2023, Washington confirmed a fourth and fifth movie were in the works.

He told Esquire magazine: “I told them I would do another Equalizer, and we’re doing four and five. More people are happy about that - people love those daggone [God damn] Equalizers.”

The Gladiator II actor, 70, added the franchise was as much for audiences as it was for him, because he loved getting the chance to be an action hero.

He said: “But I’ve come to realize that the Equalizer films are for me, too, because they’re for the people.

“They want me to go get the bad guys: ‘We can’t get them, so you go get them.’ And I say, 'Okay, I’ll get them! Just wait right there. I’ll be right back!’”

At the time of The Eqalizer 3’s release, director Antoine Fuqua said he saw the movie as the final chapter of the franchise, but hinted he might explore a prequel using CGI to de-age Washington.

Speaking to NME, the filmmaker said: “I definitely thought about it a lot. Especially now with the new technology and the AI and all of that kind of stuff.

“Is there a story to be told how [McCall] became this person - the younger version. I’ve had the conversation with [writer] Richard Wenk quite a bit.”

While de-aging technology has been used for actors like Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Robert De Niro in The Irishman, Fuqua admitted he was unsure if Washington would be open to the idea.

He explained: “I haven’t talked to Denzel about that yet. It’s all so fresh and new. I’m still watching [de-aging technology advance]. I’ve watched Harrison Ford’s film and I know there are other movies coming out.

“I think Sony has one coming out with Tom Hanks soon [Here]. And I’m hearing the technology is getting better and better and better. So I’m kind of watching it to see where it goes.”