The film ’s director , Todd Haynes , previously said that Joaquin — who had the initial theme for the movie — “ was pushing it further into more serious territory , sexually . ”
A producer has spoken out aboutJoaquin Phoenix’s reported exit from an untitled gay romance film only days before shooting was set to begin.
For context,Varietyreported on Friday that the Oscar-winning actor had suddenly dropped out of Todd Haynes’s upcoming movie, previouslydescribed by the directoras a “love story between two men set in the ’30s that has explicit sexual content.”
Neither Joaquin nor Todd has publicly addressed the news. However, film producer Christine Vachon — whose production company, Killer Films, had been attached to the movie — described the situation as a “nightmare” in asince-deletedsocial media post over the weekend.
There has been a lot of speculation about the reason for Joaquin’s exit. TheVarietyreport claimed that the crew on the film suspected he had second thoughts about the film’s graphic sex scenes. Another production source told the outlet that theJokerstar got “cold feet.”
Notably,Joaquin worked on the screenplayand was the one who brought it to Todd in the first place. Christine referred to this in her Facebook post while responding to backlash the movie received over the decision to put Joaquin, a straight man, in the lead role in a gay romance.
In September last year, Todd spoke toVarietyabout how Joaquin came up with the initial idea for the story, saying: “Joaquin was pushing it further into more dangerous territory, sexually.”
BuzzFeed has contacted Joaquin’s representative for comment.
