JOAQUIN Phoenix has dropped out of an upcoming Todd Haynes-directed film just five days before filming was set to begin.
According to a report, the Oscar-winning actor got “cold feet” before he was to begin production on the yet-to-be-named film.
Joaquin had helped develop the film, which featured a detective love story, with the director as well as writer Jon Raymond.
However, according to Indie Wire Joaquin stepped away from the movie despite an “entire set” being built in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The film, produced by Killer Films and backed by sales agent MK2 Film, relied on Joaquin’s casting and had already sold to international distributors ahead of production.
Joaquin’s exit has now put the project in peril.
The crew is now out of work, and stakeholders in the film still need to be paid. Losses could exceed seven figures, per Variety.
A source close to the production told the outlet that the actor got “cold feet” due to the graphic nature of the film’s sex scenes.
Last year, Haynes teased the project as a “love story between two men set in the ’30s that has explicit sexual content.”
In July, Top Gun: Maverick star Danny Ramirez was cast as Joaquin’s love interest.
The film was rumored to be rated NC-17 and feature a relationship that would “challenge” audiences.
The “cold feet” theory does seem strange, however, as it was Joaquin who brought the project – along with its NC-17 concept – to Haynes in the first place.
When speaking with Variety in September 2023, Haynes told the outlet that the film began with “fragments of ideas” from the Beau Is Afraid star, which the director transformed into “an actual narrative” before bringing Raymond on board.
“Basically it was just this wonderful, organic way to create the script,” Haynes said before adding. “And Joaquin was pushing it further into more dangerous territory, sexually.”
Joaquin is not expected to return to the project, per IndieWire.
Killer Films is not yet looking to replace him and is currently focused on cutting checks for the professionals who invested their time in the project.
Haynes, director of the 2023 Oscar-nominated film May December, has turned his attention to directing the limited series Trust, an adaptation of Hernan Diaz’s novel about upper-class financial ruin in the 20th century at HBO.
He is reteaming with his Mildred Pierce star Kate Winslet and will write the series with frequent collaborator Jon Raymond.
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