Joaquin Phoenix has dropped out of Todd Haynes’ untitled gay romance movie five days before filming was due to begin after concerns were raised about “graphic” sex scenes.
The 49-year-old Oscar-winning actor reportedly got “cold feet” and exited the project, days before the film was set to start shooting in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Entire sets had already been built on location and there is now doubt about the future of the movie, as it reportedly hinged on Phoenix’s casting.
“The project is in peril … The crew is now out of work, and stakeholders in the film still need to be paid. Losses could exceed seven figures,” a source said,
Actor Danny Ramirez, 31, had been cast opposite Phoenix in the movie about two men who are intense lovers and leave California for Mexico.
The film was due to feature a relationship that would “challenge” audiences and it has been speculated that Phoenix quit due to the “graphic nature of the film’s sex scenes”.
However, Haynes previously revealed Phoenix brought the script to him and was “pushing it further into more dangerous territory, sexually”.
“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,” Haynes said.
“Basically, it was just this wonderful, organic way to create the script.
“And Joaquin was pushing it further into more dangerous territory, sexually.”