Todd Haynes has now spoken for the first time about the Joaquin Phoenix-led gay romance that fell apart just five days before filming. During a talk at Marrakech Film Festival on Friday,
Haynes decided to make a brief statement on the project, and then vowed to not speak about it again during the conversation. He’s not giving up.
What happened this summer was tough, but the film itself and the script itself may resurrect in a different form.
Haynes wasn’t clear as to whether he would still work with Phoenix on the project or proceed with a different actor, but I’d bet it’s probably the latter. There’s no way Phoenix is brought back after what he’s done.
Danny Ramirez, who was supposed to co-star with Phoenix in the film, recently updated Variety on the project by implying that it was “hopefully” happening, which was a stark contrast to producer Christine Vachon claiming, a few months back, that the film was “dead.”
We all figured that, given Phoenix’s $25M paycheck on ‘Joker: Folie a Deux,’ he would gladly pay up all the costs that resulted in his exit, said to be anywhere between $7-$8M. Puck’s Matt Belloni recently reported that, behind the scenes, Phoenix “still hasn’t paid up and settled the matter with producers.”
This is clearly not the end of this story. Producers have engaged a litigator to enforce their rights against the actor. A lawsuit might very well be incoming, unless Phoenix decides to cough up the dough that they believe they’re owed. If this doesn’t go to court, and producers get back their money, then they could invest in it again, with a brand-new actor.
Meanwhile, it was recently announced that Haynes will serve as jury president at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, which kicks off in February.