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.”
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).”
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.
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- Joaquin Phoenix at the Napoleon UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom on 16 November 2023.,Image: 822493576, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Cat Morley / Avalon
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- Joaquin Phoenix attening the UK Premiere of ‘Napoleon’ at Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London, Englandthe on 16 November, 2023.,Image: 822886242, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: celebrityphotos uk / Avalon
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- Joaquin Phoenix attening the UK Premiere of ‘Napoleon’ at Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London, Englandthe on 16 November, 2023.,Image: 822897061, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: celebrityphotos uk / Avalon
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- Joaquin Phoenix bei der Premiere des Kinofilms Napoleon im Museo del Prado. Madrid, 20.11.2023 *** Joaquin Phoenix at the premiere of the movie Napoleon at the Museo del Prado Madrid, 20 11 2023 Foto:xDyDxFotografosx/xFuturexImagex napoleon_3216,Image: 823406282, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/DyD Fotografos / Avalon
This is awful news for all involved and helpless to convince JP to change his mind back. Heartbreaking, just heartbreaking to the LGBTQ+ community as well!
There are two sides to this story, I’ll be curious to see what JP’s camp has to say.
Short of extremely egregious abuse allegations related to someone still involved or an emergency health diagnosis, I can’t think of a lot of defenses for this that will stand up. So few films ever get to the point of production, not showing up at the last minute is insane.
So far there has been zero reaction from his camp with make this situation even weirder. Did he not know what his character will do in a movie HE brought to the producers ? Insane.
I was going to say, since it was Phoenix’s idea, why not change the script to make it less explicit? But then, if the film has already been sold to distributers as NC-17, then that might be a problem. It’s sounds so weird – like there should have been a way around this.
Can they/he not cast someone else for the role? Is he unwilling to let someone else do it, since it had been his pet project? (Like, if I can’t do it, no one else can either?)
Or is something else preventing casting someone new? It just seems like with so much already invested for so many people, there should be a way around this.
But maybe I am missing something?
The issue will be that a lot of the financing and distribution rights would have been contracted to JP staring in it. If he’s not in it, the $ and distribution deals will disappear.
@Seaflower: thanks for clarifying. How sad for everyone else involved in this project.
Why can’t they just find a gay actor to do his role? If he didn’t sign a contract yet then he’s allowed to change his mind. If deep down he’s not comfortable doing the scenes he shouldn’t. I would support a woman pulling out of a movies she was not comfortable doing sex scenes
I am positive the real issue is that Joaquin is a method actor.
He loved the idea of the story until the reality set in that he will have to lose himself in another man for the duration of filming.
This is why I can’t believe method actors are the best, you should be able to go home as yourself every night if you’re so great.
@Fabiola – Umm, but HE as a very powerful player in Hollywood brought THEM the project and pushed it to be more explicit. This isn’t about whether it’s right to force someone to do scenes they’re uncomfortable with, obviously, but about the fact that he put this whole train into motion using his power and prestige in the business, with funding relying entirely on HIS star power being attached to the vehicle, and then him noping out at the last moment. He’s screwed a HUGE number of people over on a whim. Zero accountability on his part. What’s more – he hasn’t even asked for scenes to be rewritten, which could allow him to remain in the production. He’s just walked away from it.
Men and their weird obsession with the Joker should be studied
🎯
THIS. Yes! It’s a red flag for sure.
Audiences too. The money they rake in is obscene; unmitigated testosterone ala Rick Flair.
Awful, awful, awful.
Joaquin will be unaffected by this, while the unknown workers who counted on getting a paycheck form this production may struggle to pay their bills and feed their families.
Incredibly selfish.
🎯🎯🎯
“His role cannot be recast”. Why not? Plenty of times in recent memory, someone steps into a role at the last minute. Can anyone explain?
I’m wondering if contractually Phoenix owns part of the script or as the one who developed it, he can pull it if he chooses to? Because I agree, why can’t it be recast??
@Libra because the funding and distribution hedged on his casting, iirc.
From what I’ve read it appears the financing they got (it’s not a studio film) was offered contingent on his involvement. So while there are many less known actors who could do the job, the money people are going to pull their funding because that is not what they invested in. Then your only shot is an actor of equal caliber…possible, but putting them in place in 5 days and getting your investors to all agree? Unlikely. And a name actor might hesitate to step into someone else’s “passion project”. Actors at that level can afford to be picky (but not break contracts).
It is further complicated by the fact that Phoenix likely has some other stakes in the project if he was involved. That’s for the lawyers to unravel but a production like this doesn’t have money to burn. He really screwed them over in short.
It sounds to me that when he pulled a lot of the financial and studio backing went with him. This is VERY unprofessional of him and hasn’t he done this before?? Maybe am confusing him with someone else.
It sounds like damage control to make Joaquin come back, bc the movie mainly relied on him to sell.
I’m not partial to Joaquin other than his acting, which is usually great. But, unless explanations are provided, in my experience ppl back out of projects last minute precisely bc someone is actually trying to exploit an ‘all-ready’ situation to their advantage.
Meaning management violates terms or conditions initially agreed upon, after calculating that the other party/ies wouldn’t risk being subject to any kind of inquiry or want to ‘look bad’ by letting a team hanging.
This kind of abuse is more common in workplaces than we think. I doubt Joaquin is exposed to financial or workplace irregularities, and g*d knows he’s at least peculiar enough to be regarded as predictable. But there’s always someone who bets.
Of course it might be that he’s being a total arse, but he’s known for a strong commitment to his craft. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone might have wanted to take advantage of that in some way.
I wouldn’t say he has a “ strong commitment to his craft” as multiple people said below. At the last minute, he almost backed out of the Napoleon movie, and the Director, had to talk him back into it and back out of Brokeback Mountain, this seems more like a pattern.
Todd Haynes and Killer Films have been around for decades and have been nominated and won Oscars. These are professional people who have always made LGBTQ+ films and other films that push boundaries. They aren’t trying to pull a fast one over Joaquin Phoenix.
“why wasn’t Joaquin locked in contractually? ”
What do you mean? If sets were being built he obviously was locked in and he broke his contract. And now he is in breach and about to be sued for millions. As he should be.
It sounds like he has negatively impacted many, many people – from investors and producers to the hard-working crew – and I can’t imagine he will come out unscathed from this. I can see this negatively impacting even future Oscar bids. You mess with people’s income and they will hold a grudge.
It’s a small Indy movie rated NC17 so I doubt he won’t be able to come back from this since the movie was not expected to make that much money anyways
This seems really bad. Truly an awful thing to do. Maybe more info will come out but as of now Joaquin comes across as absolutely awful for this.
If it was as easy as recasting, I’m sure Todd Haynes would throw in, like, Charles Melton, but Joaquin probably got all the money due to his name. They would need someone to match that star power and people at that level are not going to step up unless they have a history with Todd. A shame all around.
I’m just pissed because I really like Ramirez and this was supposed to be one of his big breaks.
Also, Joaquin did something similar with Napoleon. He almost backed out and the director had to talk him out of it.
It may have been an indie cred kind of move but he’s due next May in a large supporting role in Captain America 4. Unless he gets killed he’ll likely be in Avengers 4&5.
He is a flake whose years of trauma have made him believe he is a misunderstood loner instead of an entitled movie star. He has been walking around as if he was Arthur Fleck in his performances since 2019. Pass.
It’s interesting you mention trauma because that was the first place my mind went knowing he’s been in the industry since his youth. I wondered if he went into this thinking it’d be great and even pushing the scenes but something made him rethink whether he is in the state he needs to be to take on this role, particularly because his camp has been silent and we know the type of debauchery young men in Hollywood were exposed to back then. It could be as simple as ongoing therapy (I can’t see why a method actor wouldn’t have one) or he had some kind of experience where he thought he could handle it and it’d be a great experience but he had to reconsider if this was the best thing for him mentally. The fact that he did this with Brokeback Mountain (if the role was similar) raises my suspicions.
I’m reserving judgment it could simply be he got the ick or couldn’t go there but I know how tormented actors-since-youth are and I’m going to see how this plays out because I’d never want someone to feel pressured into anything they weren’t ready to handle.
It’s interesting to note that he also dropped out of Brokeback Mountain back in the day.
Assuming the big problem is the explicit scenes, why not use a body double for them? I think Joaquin could be sued for this even if he didn’t have an explicit contract. This is crazy all around.
I just can’t believe he didn’t have a contract. That doesn’t make any sense to me because all of the people involved have literal decades of experience working in both indie and mainstream film. Christine Vachon has produced a very long list of films, she is not some random producer who could have overlooked a basic contract stipulation. I would think there would be a financial penalty for him pulling out this late in the game.
For those asking why they can’t just recast his part: he is a huge star and that’s how they got the funding from investors and selling it overseas. Without him they are going against whatever contracts they signed for those deals.
What a mess he has caused.
This does sound messy. It seems like it’s difficult to recast as he was essential to getting the funding in the first place and would be part of those contracts with the finances. It does also seem strange given that he helped develop this film. I’m really interested to know of other actors that have done this and how this was resolved. I heard that lupita nyong’o pulled out of lady in the lake after it started filming. I also remember that mess of the film Jane got a gun with Natalie Portman and the director quitting as they were about to film as well as some actors leaving too but presumably none of these people involved were essential for the financing of the film
When ScarJo was made to drop out of the film she was going to produce where she’d play a transgender character that funding collapsed as well. Smaller budget risky films, especially dealing with lgbtq characters plots and characters depend on big names. And there just aren’t gay actors who can do that save someone like Ian Mckellan. If this was on streaming, I could see Luke Evans or Jonathan Bailey.
Eh… I’d hold off judgment on this for right now. Based on when she announced, Rooney just had their second child maybe a month ago? There’s every possibility that something has changed there and he simply can’t be abroad for however many months filming right now.
That is not how it works. Most actors have families. It doesn’t make dropping out of your own vanity project with others having to pick up the costs (now rumored to be 7 figures!) common or acceptable. The only thing that would excuse this is an emergency which we would be hearing about.
Phoenix has a history of “cold feet” before productions and that’s what’s being floated now as the reason. Not to mention, now there are rumors of producers no longer wanting to insure him as a result. So if he has a good excuse, now is the time to explain it. It’s been crickets from him so far.
He’s an Oscar winning actor. Obviously you can’t just recast when people put their money down for him – an actor with huge appeal and prestige – to play the role.
Mental health crisis?