Move has prompted talk of legal action

Joaquin Phoenix’s abrupt departure from a gay romance film has reportedly sparked “huge outrage” in Hollywood and could lead to legal action.

The Joker star was set to lead the untitled detective love story – that he had taken to director Todd Haynes in the first place – but five days before production was scheduled to begin, he made the last-minute decision to drop out of the film after getting “cold feet”, a source told Variety.

Entire sets had been built in Guadalajara, Mexico, where shooting had been due to take place. Phoenix abandoned the project in early July just days before the scheduled shoot, leaving cast and crew in the lurch.

Now, reports are emerging that legal action could ensue, after the decision sparked backlash from industry veterans.

“There’s been a huge amount of outrage,” one studio executive told The Hollywood Reporter. The publication cited sources suggesting the decision could lead to legal action.

…

Produced by Killer Films and backed by sales agent MK2 Film, Phoenix’s movie had already been sold to international distributors. Variety further reports that the actor’s role cannot be recast, leaving the crew out of work and investors unpaid, and meaning that losses could surpass seven figures.

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.ukOPMEnglish
      11·
      3 months ago

      My guess is that it’s because this is his project - he originally brought the idea to the director and they worked it up into a script from there. So Phoenix probably has a lot of paperwork saying he can’t be replaced and the distributors that have bought it likely have contracts that would prevent a bait-and-switch change of lead after they’ve paid for the rights.

      • Gamma@beehaw.orgEnglish
        7·
        3 months ago

        I didn’t realize it was his, that would make sense! Now I’m even more curious why he would pull out of the project

        • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.ukOPMEnglish
          12·
          3 months ago

          I think that might all come out in the lawsuit but the THR report they mention says:

          The actor is indeed known to get cold feet ahead of filming on various projects. Two sources tell THR that he threatened to leave Ridley Scott’s Napoleon unless his The Master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson was brought in to do rewrites. Placated, he stayed aboard the project, and it arrived in theaters late last year.

          As Phoenix once told 60 Minutes’ Anderson Cooper, he’s usually “petrified” when he takes on a role and that before he shoots, he’s “nervous” that he won’t be able to “find the right kind of place to express” his ideas.

          The fact that it contains gay sex scenes has been suggested as a contributing factor too. It might seem a great idea in the planning stages but for someone so method, he might have been struggling to get into the right head-space as the start of filming was looking.

          Worth reading this: Joaquin Phoenix’s One-Man Cult of Depressive Method-Acting Vanity. It shows what an unusual space he works in and it seems very… fragile.

          • maegul (he/they)MEnglish
            5·
            3 months ago

            Worth reading this: Joaquin Phoenix’s One-Man Cult of Depressive Method-Acting Vanity. It shows what an unusual space he works in and it seems very… fragile.

            Hadn’t heard this before, but it’s funny how it immediately explains the energy he always seems to have in a role.