Todd Haynes hasn’t even started shooting his next film yet but he’s already implying that it’ll be a button-pusher of the highest order. It sure sounds like it.
The film in question, still untitled, will star Joaquin Phoenix and is being described as “a love story between two men” set in the 1930s. Haynes wrote the story with writer Jon Raymond and Phoenix will be sharing a story credit.
In fact, Haynes has mentioned that, while brainstorming the project, Phoenix kept pushing him and going “no, let’s go further with the sex”. Haynes is convinced this will be an NC-17 film.
Here he is, at the Deauville Film Festival, giving Variety more details about this upcoming film:
It’s a love story between two men set in the 30s that has explicit sexual content that or at least it challenges you with the sexual relationship between these two men. One is a Native American character and one is a corrupt cop in LA. It’s set in the 30s. They have to flee L.A. ultimately and go to Mexico. But it’s a love story and with a strong sexual component. And what was so remarkable is that it all started with Joaquin having some ideas and some thoughts and just questions and images. And he came to me and said, “Does this connect to you at all?” And I was like, “Yeah, this is really interesting.” And so we would just be on the phone talking and it developed into a script.
Haynes confirms that he’s spoken to Mexican producers who are willing to finance the film, adding that he’s eyeing a summer 2024 production start. He seems fairly confident about this one being his next project.
For now, his critically-acclaimed “May December,” which premiered at this past May’s Cannes Film Festival, will be released, via Netflix, on November 17th.
Meanwhile, Phoenix has a bunch of projects in the works. He’s already shot films with Ridley Scott (“Napoleon”) and Todd Phillips (“Joker: Folie A Deux”). There’s also Ari Aster’s “Eddington,” which is currently scouting locations in New Mexico.
Following “Air,” this is Affleck’s latest stint behind the camera. He has cast himself in the lead role, alongside Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, and Gillian Anderson (“The X-Files”).