Joaquin Phoenix Reportedly Walks Away From Movie Mere Days Before Shooting

Variety is reporting that actor Joaquin Phoenix is no longer linked to the Todd Haynes’ gay love story movie. The actor quit the film a mere five days before shooting was scheduled to start, in Mexico.

Interestingly enough, Phoenix developed the screenplay along with Haynes and Jon Raymond. The flick centered around a detective romance. According to a source, Phoenix stated he was getting “cold feet”, which is why he pulled out of the project; however, the reason behind why he was feeling this way is unknown.

More On The Movie Joaquin Phoenix Walked Away From

The movie was announced last year in May and was sold to international distributors before production began. It would have been produced by Killer Films.

However, sources note that as Joaquin’s role cannot be recast, the film will collapse, and the rest of the cast and crew will be out of a job. The film’s stakeholders will still need to be paid, with apparent losses potentially above seven figures.

As per some reports, it is being claimed that Joaquin wanted out of the film because of the graphic sex scenes, but this contradicts other sources that have alleged the actor initially brought the movie and NC-17 idea to Haynes.

In fact, Haynes told IndieWire (who broke the story in May 2023) that Phoenix was, “pushing me further and going, ‘No, let’s go further. This will be an NC-17 film.’

“

Kanye West RANTS About Candy Conspiracy, Wife Bianca Censori OVERFLOWS Skimpy Bikini!

View Story

Joaquin Phoenix – Is Busy With Other Projects

With all that being said, Phoenix is focused on another film right now, the much-anticipated Joker: Folie a Deux, which is set to be released in October. He’s also working in Eddington, Polaris, and The Island.

While it is disappointing to the crew and Haynes that this film has been scrapped, there’s always a chance it could be picked up once again for filming, sometime in the future. Only time will tell.

What do you think about Joaquin Phoenix dropping out of his recent film only five days before shooting? Comment below and visit CTS regularly for the best of the best updates, spoilers, and news in the land of television.

Editorial credit: Denis Makarenko / Shutterstock.com