Plot Details for Todd Haynes’ “Explicit” 1930s Gay Drama

Todd Haynes, coming off last year’s “May December,” hasn’t even started shooting his next film yet, but he’s already implied that it would be a button-pusher of the highest order. The film in question was shopped around at the EFM market in February. I can now confirm that a July 29 shoot is scheduled.

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. Here are the EXCLUSIVE first plot details for the film:

The story of Richard Rent (Joaquin Phoenix), a volatile cop in 1930s Los Angeles, and Joe Thomas, a deeply assimilated Native American schoolteacher. In the wake of a mysterious double murder, the two become targets of the city’s corrupt political machine, and must flee to Mexico in order to survive. There, in the humid jungles of the Western coastline, as the threat of global war looms, they enter a brutal, passionate love affair that rearranges their perceptions of the past, the future, and themselves.

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 rated film. It’s obvious that, with this project, and based on their own comments, Haynes and Phoenix are trying to make a very provocative film here.

Haynes is the filmmaker behind such acclaimed works as “Safe,” “Far From Heaven,” “Carol” and last year’s “May December.”