Today’s going to be a quiet morning since I’m currently seated for the 9:45am screening of Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” which is 3.5 hours, including intermission.
With that said, a quick note on the ongoing Joaquin Phoenix/Todd Haynes saga. If you remember, Phoenix dodged a question at Venice, refusing to explain why he bailed on the director’s gay romance: “the other creatives aren’t here to say their piece.”
We all figured that, given Phoenix’s $25M paycheck on ‘Joker: Folie a Deux,’ he would gladly pay all the costs that resulted in his exit, said to be anywhere between $5-10$M. Puck’s Matt Belloni is reporting 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.