Christine Vachon, a long-time producer of Todd Haynes’ film, who was meant to back the filmmaker’s last project with Joaquin Phoenix before he exited as shooting was about to begin, has chimed in with some thoughts. She says “the truth” of the situation has already been reported on but believes the most tragic aspect of the whole story is how Haynes only has a few more films left given his age.
“The truth is, pretty much what happened is out there for all of you to see,” Vachon began. “If I had anything to gossip about it, I would, but I don’t. It was tragic. The most tragic part about it, in my mind, is Todd Hughes is 62. There’s a finite number of films that they’ll be able to do in his lifetime. I consider him one of the most extraordinary film artists of his generation.
“The idea that his time was wasted and that a movie is not a result of those years of working closely with Joaquin, that is the tragedy to me and that I can’t get over,” Vachon continued. “We, as a cultural community, lost an opportunity to have another movie by Todd Haynes. That is just criminal.”
Vachon stated these comments at the San Sebastian Film Festival on Tuesday, and she’s right. Haynes is 62, and has only directed nine films since 1991. He spent a considerable amount of time developing the Phoenix project, with the actor’s deeply involved participation, only to have it fall apart at the last minute.
Only days after production had shut down on Haynes’ film, Vachon had posted on social media that the situation was a “nightmare.” She added that it was Phoenix who had brought the project to Haynes and herself: “This was HIS project that he brought to US.”
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 $7-8$M. 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.
Boyle's answer was met with a shout of "Never do that shit again" from the crowd, and the TIFF moderator swiftly brought the Q&A to a close, thanking everyone for coming.