A Producer Confirmed Joaquin Phoenix’s “Nightmare” Exit From Todd Haynes’s Gay Romance Movie With Danny Ramirez

A producer has spoken out about Joaquin Phoenix ’s reported exit from an untitled gay romance film only days before shooting was set to begin.

For context, Variety reported on Friday that the Oscar-winning actor had suddenly dropped out of Todd Haynes’s upcoming movie, previously described by the director as a “love story between two men set in the ’30s that has explicit sexual content.”

Gareth Cattermole / Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images, Olivia Wong / FilmMagic

Joaquin was supposed to star opposite Danny Ramirez, and his abrupt departure reportedly came only five days before the movie was scheduled to start shooting in Mexico. A production source told the outlet that entire sets had already been built in Guadalajara.

The film reportedly hinges on having Joaquin in the lead, so his role cannot be recast. A source close to the film told Variety that the film’s scrapping could result in losses of over seven figures.

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 a since-deleted social media post over the weekend.

There has been a lot of speculation about the reason for Joaquin’s exit. The Variety report 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 the Joker star got “cold feet.”

Notably, Joaquin worked on the screenplay and 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 to Variety about 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.

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