Todd Haynes finally comments on his scrapped film with Joaquin Phoenix

The award for shadiest behind-the-scenes drama of the year will surely be awarded to Joaquin Phoenix bailing on Todd Haynes’ latest film days before shooting was about to start. As the story goes, Phoenix actually brought the story to Haynes, and then the pair collaborated (with co-writer Jon Raymond) on the script. It was meant to be an NC-17 gay love story set in 1930s Los Angeles, co-starring Danny Ramirez. But the film was greenlit based on an Oscar-caliber star like Phoenix at the top of the callsheet, so when he dropped out, it all fell apart. Four months later, Haynes made his first comment on the subject. 

“What happened this summer was tough,” Haynes said when asked by Variety at the Marrakech Film Festival. (By the way, the moderator apparently announced at the beginning of the conversation that Haynes wasn’t going to comment on this subject. Naughty Variety!) “But the film itself and the script itself may resurrect in a different form someday.”

Who knows what the film will look like someday, or indeed if someday ever comes. Lots of films we never hear about die on the vine, without ever getting the backing they need to shoot. (Todd Solondz is looking for financing, by the way.) This situation was remarkable because we did hear about it, and we only heard about it because of the high-profile talent, the dramatic last-minute turnaround, and of course the salacious rumors that immediately began about Phoenix getting “cold feet” over the film’s homosexual content. 

Earlier this year Phoenix declined to comment on the reasons for his departure, but we’ve since learned that he gets cold feet about pretty much every time he ever makes a movie. That doesn’t make it any less of a jerk move to drop out on short notice, leaving the rest of the cast and crew in the lurch. Ramirez said the situation was “definitely disappointing.” And producer Christine Vachon declared that “The idea that [Haynes’] time was wasted and a movie is not the result of all that time working with Joaquin is a tragedy to me.” Hopefully she can take solace that the result may be resurrected someday!