The actor was asked about his sudden departure from the project while doing press for Joker: Folie à Deux in Venice.
Nearly a month after dropping out of Todd Haynes’ queer romance film just five days before filming started, Joaquin Phoenix has finally spoken out about his last-minute decision — kinda.
“I am not sure how that would be helpful. I don’t think I will,” he continued.
Phoenix’s sudden exit from the project he developed with Haynes and writer Jon Raymond sent shockwaves through Hollywood. Sets for the film had already been built and distribution had been secured. As reported by Variety, Phoenix got “cold feet,” according to a source close to the production. According to the entertainment outlet, some in the crew speculated that the actor’s abrupt exit had to do with the explicit sex scenes in the movie, but other sources found that theory “confusing,” as Phoenix had reportedly brought the NC-17 project to Haynes in the first place.
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In a September 2023 interview with Variety, Haynes described the project as “a love story between two men set in the ’30s that has explicit sexual content.” The project centered around a Native American character, played by Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick), and a corrupt cop in Los Angeles who has to flee the country for Mexico.
“What was so remarkable is that it all started with Joaquin having some ideas and some thoughts and just questions and images,” Haynes told Variety at the time. “And he came to me and said, ‘Does this connect to you at all?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, this is really interesting.’ And so we would just be on the phone talking and it developed into a script.”
