Joaquin Phoenix has dropped out of what would have been his forthcoming movie, putting the entire film in jeopardy of being canned.
The 49-year-old award-winning actor was supposed to play the leading role in a gay romance movie that Todd Haynes was directing. At the last minute, Joaquin decided that he no longer wanted to act in the film as he allegedly got “cold feet,” a source told Variety on Friday.
Joaquin up-and-quit the movie just five days before filming was supposed to start. Initially, it was reported that there are “dicey intimacy scenes” in the movie, which is about two gay lovers who go from California to Mexico.
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The “subject matter of the film was a factor,” a source told Page Six. The Walk the Line leading man opting out so abruptly was confusing since he was very involved in the screenplay right along with Todd and Jon Raymond, according to the news outlet.
“The next film is a feature that’s an original script that I developed with Joaquin Phoenix based on some thoughts and ideas he brought to me,” Todd told IndieWire in May of last year.
“We basically wrote with him as a story writer. Me and Jon Raymond and Joaquin share the story credit. And we hope to be shooting it beginning early next year. It’s a gay love story set in 1930s LA.”
Complicating the matter even more, Joaquin won’t be able to be recast since it was pitched to distributors with him as the lead role, a source mentioned to Page Six. With the Oscar-winner out of the picture, sources revealed that Todd’s movie is now in “peril” and his “crew is out of work,” per Page Six.
“Stakeholders in the film reportedly still need to be paid, though, allegedly creating a debt that could exceed seven figures,” the news outlet explained. Joaquin has caught some backlash on X, formerly Twitter, for backing out on what could’ve been a great movie that represented LGBTQ+ culture.
“His brother, the late and great River Phoenix probably wouldn't have thought twice about the role and made the film,” one X user wrote. “Strange to present the idea to the film's director and request that the sexual content be turned up only for Joaquin to get cold feet and bail.”
Meanwhile, another slammed: “You’re a failure of an actor Joaquin.” Another pointed out: “You know that Joaquin Phoenix? That actor who method acted to become Joker IRL? Well, he's going to get cold feet from the homosexual movie he helped create, so he's going to quit and get everybody involved in serious trouble. This whole production is a trap.”
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