Joaquin Phoenix Pulls Out Of Movie About Gay Detective

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Actor’s departure comes amid claims he tried to make film ‘more sexually dangerous’
Joaquin Phoenix has dropped out of a “sexually explicit” movie about a gay detective just five days before filming was due to start.
The US actor who starred in The Joker was due to appear as the onscreen lover of Danny Ramirez, the Top Gun: Maverick star, in an as yet untitled film.
But, Phoenix’s departure has led to rumours that he either felt the film was too graphic or not risque enough.
The director Todd Haynes’s film was set in the 1930s and was due to include “explicit sexual content”.
Phoenix helped write the screenplay for the detective love story with Haynes and Jon Raymond. However, some sources said the actor was uncomfortable with the film’s graphic sex scenes while others said he may have wanted it to be more daring.
Variety claimed sources connected to the production said the actor had got “cold feet” and now the entire movie was in “peril”.
However, others felt that unlikely because Phoenix had been keen for the film to break new ground regarding sex scenes.
Last year, Haynes told Variety the film had started with ideas from Phoenix himself.
“Basically it was just this wonderful organic way to create the script,” the director and screenwriter said. “And Joaquin was pushing it further into more dangerous territory, sexually.”
Haynes had also told IndieWire: “Joaquin was pushing me further and going, “No let’s go further”… It [the film] was prompted by his daring, his desire to push through barriers and to really get into the uncomfortable places about this relationship.”
The online film publication claimed Haynes had been clear he wanted the film to be as graphic as possible. The film would have been Phoenix’s first gay onscreen role.
It is understood entire sets had been built in Guadalajara, a city in western Mexico, before Phoenix quit. It is understood Phoenix was in Los Angeles when he quit and had not yet travelled to Mexico.

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