Woody Harrelson replacing Jason Statham in action-comedy 'Man From Toronto'

Woody Harrelson has come to save new action-comedy The Man From Toronto, after Jason Statham quit the movie just weeks from the beginning of the shoot.

Harrelson will now co-star with Kevin Hart in the movie, directed by Patrick Hughes, who helmed The Hitman's Bodyguard with Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson in 2017.

According to THR, Statham had not officially signed his deal, and walked away six weeks from shooting after reportedly insisting that Sony make the movie an R-rated actioner.

Read more: Statham pulls out of movie weeks before shoot

Instead the studio wanted to make a PG-13 movie with broader appeal, and now Harrelson has stepped into the role, having just wrapped on superhero movie Venom 2.

The movie will find Hart and Harrelson in a case of mistaken identity involving a bungled Airbnb booking.

Harrelson is the titular 'Man from Toronto', the world's most deadly assassin, where Hart is described as 'a New York City screw-up'.

The odd couple are thrown together with – hopefully – hilarious consequences and according to reports, the movie is holding on to its release date of 20 November.

Harrelson is also starring in another assassin-based action thriller for Netflix (produced by John Wick co-creator David Leitch), currently in post-production.

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Kate finds Mary Elizabeth Winstead playing the lead, a deadly female assassin who has 24-hours to live after being poisoned in Tokyo.

It lands later this year.