For the first time since Joaquin Phoenix dropped out of his gay period romance, Todd Haynes spoke out about what happened.
Variety asked him during the Marrakech Film Festival about the Phoenix-led movie, which initially a moderator said he wouldn’t discuss. However, he did give a brief statement to the press.
“What happened this summer was tough,” Haynes said. “But the film itself and the script itself may resurrect in a different form someday.”
Phoenix dropped from the movie five days before it was supposed to begin filming, leaving it in shambles as the cast and crew tried to piece it back together without much time. People are currently owed money, and production has come to a sudden halt.
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Phoenix has previously said of the matter that “the other creatives aren’t here to say their piece, and it just doesn’t feel like that would be right. I’m not sure how that would be helpful, so I just don’t think I will.”
Reportedly, the film was initially Phoenix’s idea. When he dropped out in August, speculation swirled that he was uncomfortable with the movie’s explicit gay content (which was enough to warrant an NC-17 rating), despite helping to come up with it himself.
Phoenix had developed the screenplay along with Haynes and Jon Raymond. The film was supposed to follow a shady cop and a younger lover fleeing Los Angeles for Mexico. Phoenix’s co-star was supposed to be Danny Ramirez. Hopefully, that “different form” Haynes hinted at can still come to fruition.
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