Joaquin Phoenix dropping out last-minute was “tough”, says director Todd Haynes

nme.com:

Joaquin Phoenix dropping out last-minute was “tough”, says director Todd Haynes, who has opened up about Phoenix’s departure from a film on which they were working together.The untitled movie – previously set to star the Joker actor and Top Gun: Maverick‘s Danny Ramirez – was to follow two men as they develop an intense romantic relationship and leave 1930s Los Angeles for Mexico, according to reports.Haynes, who is best known for 1998’s Velvet Goldmine, was attached as director and co-writer.

According to Deadline, Phoenix left the set of the movie shortly before it was set to begin production in Guadalajara, Mexico, and producers tried to put the project back together before it completely died.Now, during a conversation at the Marrakech Film Festival on Friday (December 6), Haynes opened up about the project to Variety in a brief statement.“What happened this summer was tough,” Haynes told the outlet. “But the film itself and the script itself may resurrect in a different form someday.”Variety claim that sources close to the project say the actor got “cold feet” and made a last-minute decision to exit the film even as full sets had already been built.Variety says Haynes neither confirmed nor denied those speculations during their conversation.Phoenix was asked about his exit from the movie during the Joker: Folie à Deux press conference at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year, but he declined to answer.He said: “If I do, I’d just be sharing my opinion from my perspective and the other creatives aren’t here to share their piece so I don’t think that would be helpful.

So I won’t.”Producer Christine Vachon was more candid about Phoenix’s departure, describing it as a “tragedy” in an interview back in.