‘Joker’ star Joaquin Phoenix has reportedly dropped out of the Todd Haynes gay romance film five days before production.
According to a Variety article published on August 9, Friday, a source said that Phoenix got “cold feet” at the last minute despite having Phoenix develop the screenplay for the explicit gay love story with Haynes and Jon Raymond. The 49-year-old actor exited the film days before filming started despite having entire sets already built in Guadalajara where the filming was supposed to take place.
Haynes and Phoenix’s representatives have not released an official statement as of this writing.
Back in July this year, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ star Danny Ramirez had been reported to play opposite Phoenix in the detective period piece, much to the fans’ excitement.
The film was teased by Haynes to be between two men set in the 30s that has “explicit sexual content.” Despite the hype that the film received, it is still unclear whether the film will still push through albeit Variety claimed that the project is “in peril”, hinting that Phoenix’s role will not be recast.
