Category: Joaquin Phoenix

A few weeks ago, Joaquin Phoenix suddenly pulled out of a Todd Haynes-directed film which was already deep into pre-production. Joaquin pulled out just a few days before he was due on set to begin principal filming. It is an especially crazy thing to do, even more so considering the fact that Joaquin brought the story and concept to Haynes and they developed it together. The story is something like “a closeted gay detective story” and it’s a period piece and the love story was supposed to be very explicit. Joaquin’s sudden withdrawal has left Haynes in an awful spot, not to mention the production companies which already invested millions. The Hollywood Reporter has already done some reporting about the studio/executive outrage over Phoenix screwing over Haynes and the film. Now THR asks: “Can Joaquin Phoenix Be Replaced, or Is Todd Haynes’ Gay Love Story Doomed?”

Joaquin Phoenix has pulled this sort of stunt before. In 2019, he tried to back out of The Joker at the last minute. He did it again in 2021, with Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon, and again in 2023, with Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. But in those cases, Phoenix ultimately settled down and the movies ended up getting made. Which raises an obvious question: Is there any way the explicit Todd Haynes gay love story that Phoenix supposedly got cold feet over and abruptly exited Aug. 9 — just five days before shooting was scheduled to begin in Guadalajara, Mexico, where sets were already being built and crews were waiting for the Oscar-winning actor to arrive — might somehow also end up getting made?

Rambling Reporter has been hearing all sorts of rumors about eleventh-hour attempts to salvage the untitled project, including reports that Haynes had been contemplating recasting Phoenix’s part. Pedro Pascal’s name has been bandied about, though sources tell THR he’d be an unlikely choice given that Pascal’s schedule is packed until the end of the year with Fantastic Four and The Mandalorian shoots and also because Haynes had already cast Top Gun: Maverick‘s Danny Ramirez as Phoenix’s love interest in the film, which centers on a corrupt L.A. cop in the 1930s who has a torrid affair with a nonwhite male character. “Having two Latinos in the roles doesn’t make a lot of sense,” one talent rep tells THR.

Meanwhile, Rambling hears that Haynes’ producers have been considering hitting Phoenix with a lawsuit to cover lost costs, said to amount to several million dollars. Might that entice Phoenix back to the set? Anything is possible, but it’s unlikely, given that money doesn’t appear to be a problem for the actor these days; he got paid $25 million for the Joker sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, which bows at the Venice Film Festival in September.

[From THR]

As I said weeks ago, the reason why there’s not more full-throated, on-the-record backlash against Joaquin right now is because Joker: Folie à Deux is coming out soon. Studios are waiting to see if that film is successful with the powerful neckbeard incel demographic before they completely write off Joaquin. It’s crazy that no one has sued him yet, which makes me wonder if Haynes does feel like there’s a shot at getting Joaquin to change his mind. But it’s also been weeks since he exited – are they still waiting around in Mexico? As for recasting the role… I get that there’s a Hollywood hive-mind and that currently, everyone wants to hire Pedro Pascal for every role, but there are other actors around? It’s completely f–king weird to be like “We should recast this, is Pedro available? Oh, he’s not, well, nevermind.” And of course this all would have played out differently if a woman had pulled this kind of stunt.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Last Friday, Joaquin Phoenix suddenly pulled out of a Todd Haynes film. The movie was set to film in Mexico and the production was already in town, and Joaquin was supposed to begin shooting this week. What was especially bizarre about Joaquin’s sudden withdrawal is that he initially went to Todd Haynes with the story – an explicit story about two (closeted) gay men – and they developed it together. Haynes got the financing for the film and put everything together with Joaquin’s involvement and using Joaquin’s name, since it was something Joaquin put together WITH Haynes. Well, the Hollywood Reporter has an interesting story about the backlash to Joaquin screwing over Haynes and everyone involved in the production.

When Joaquin Phoenix abruptly exited Todd Haynes’ gay romance movie last week, just five days before production, the actor set off a tidal wave that has now rippled far past the confines of its Guadalajara, Mexico set.

“There’s been a huge amount of outrage,” says one studio exec of the reaction from Hollywood producers to Phoenix’s last-minute departure, which left cast and crew in a lurch, and now opens the actor up to the possibility of legal action, according to sources.

According to multiple sources, Phoenix got cold feet in the leadup to the production, though the reasons remain murky. A rep for Phoenix did not respond to a request for comment. Killer Films declined to comment. The actor is indeed known to get cold feet ahead of filming on various projects. Two sources tell THR that he threatened to leave Ridley Scott’s Napoleon unless his The Master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson was brought in to do rewrites. Placated, he stayed aboard the project, and it arrived in theaters late last year.

In recent days, the drumbeat has gotten louder among the producing community for legal action to be brought against Phoenix, with insiders pointing to examples throughout Hollywood history of actors being held accountable for leaving films without a star.

According to sources, some producers have idly talked about blackballing Phoenix over the Haynes departure, but most acknowledge that’s not realistic, particularly given that Joker 2, out Oct. 4, is expected to be a hit. One agent unconnected to the Haynes movies believes that ultimately, Phoenix will not face significant career blowback. And this person predicts the actor will settle for the low-seven figures the production spent on the movie, citing his big paydays for his Joker films as the actor having plenty of cash to deal with this situation. “As long as they threaten, he’ll settle. It’s nothing to him,” says the agent.

[From THR]

THR also points out that Joaquin has long been squeamish with the promotional tours for his films, and he usually refuses to do more than one or two premieres and interviews. The elephant in the room is Joker: Folie a Deux, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival in a matter of weeks. That’s Joaquin’s biggest and most successful starring role to date, it’s a role which won him an Oscar and the first film made a billion dollars. As in, Joaquin is now seen as too powerful/important to face serious repercussions for this mess with Todd Haynes. My thing is… how would an actress be treated in this situation, even an Oscar-winning actress who suddenly flaked out just days before she was due on set? There would be so much more outrage and that actress would absolutely be blackballed.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Joaquin Phoenix will soon be in Venice, promoting Joker: Folie à Deux with Lady Gaga. That was supposed to be his big thing this year: promoting the Joker sequel, his return to a role which won him an Oscar (which I still loathe). But it looks like Joaquin had something else on his schedule this summer. He was supposed to begin filming on a “gay romance” directed by Todd Haynes. Joaquin pulled out just five days before he was due on set. This is a huge catastrophe and people are going to lose millions of dollars just because Joaquin changed his mind about a story HE brought to Haynes and HE developed with Haynes.

Joaquin Phoenix has dropped out of Todd Haynes‘ untitled gay romance film, just five days before filming was set to begin in Mexico, Variety has confirmed. Phoenix had developed the screenplay for the detective love story with Haynes and Jon Raymond. A source close to the production tells Variety the actor got “cold feet.” Entire sets had been built in Guadalajara before Phoenix made the last-minute decision to exit the film.

Hinged on Phoenix’s casting, the movie, produced by Killer Films and backed by sales agent MK2 Film, had already sold to international distributors ahead of production. Sources tell Variety the project is in peril, indicating that Phoenix’s role cannot be recast. The crew is now out of work, and stakeholders in the film still need to be paid. Losses could exceed seven figures.

“Top Gun: Maverick” star Danny Ramirez joined the cast in July as Phoenix’s love interest. In 2023, Haynes teased the project in an interview with Variety as a “love story between two men set in the ’30s that has explicit sexual content.” The film was said to be rated NC-17 and feature a relationship that will “challenge” audiences.

Speculation among the crew is that Phoenix’s exit had to do with the graphic nature of the film’s sex scenes. But that theory is confusing to some sources, who reiterate that it was Phoenix who brought the project — and its NC-17 concept — to Haynes in the first place. Haynes told Variety in September 2023 that the film started with “fragments of ideas” from Phoenix, which the director formulated into “an actual narrative” before bringing Raymond on board.

“Basically it was just this wonderful, organic way to create the script,” Haynes said. “And Joaquin was pushing it further into more dangerous territory, sexually.”

[From Variety]

This is… legitimately bonkers. Bonkers from a legal perspective too, because why wasn’t Joaquin locked in contractually? You can say “oh, the Oscar winner had cold feet,” but if he has a contract, dude has to show up on set in Mexico and get it on with Danny Ramirez. Was this all being done on a handshake deal?? A producer on the film, Christine Vachon, wrote this on her Facebook page:

“A version of this did happen. It has been a nightmare….And PLEASE — if you are tempted to finger wag or admonish us that “that’s what you get for casting a straight actor” –DON’T. This was HIS project that he brought to US– and Killer’s record on working with LGBTQ actors/crew/directors speaks for itself. (and for those of you who HAVE– know that you are making a terrible situation even worse).”

[Via People]

Yeah, I already saw some people arguing “this is why Joaquin should never have been cast as a gay man.” But as Vachon points out, again, this was Joaquin bringing a story to Todd Haynes. This was Joaquin putting together a graphic gay romance AS HIS OWN STAR VEHICLE and then just days before he was due in Mexico, he was just like “nah, I can’t.” Rooney Mara, come get your man.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.