A producer has spoken out about a cancelled gay romance movie starring Joaquin Phoenix.
The untitled movie, which was set to star the Joker actor and Top Gun: Maverick‘s Danny Ramirez, followed two men as they develop an intense romantic relationship and leave 1930s Los Angeles for Mexico.
It was directed by Todd Haynes, who is best known for 1998’s Velvet Goldmine. According to Deadline, Phoenix left the set of the movie weeks before it was set to begin production in Guadalajara, Mexico, and producers tried to put the project back together before it completely died.
Now, producer Christine Vachon has described the abandoned film as a “tragedy”.
“Pretty much what happened is what’s out there for you to read. I don’t know any more than that. I would gossip if I had anything to gossip about,” she said at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
Vachon continued: “Todd Haynes is 62. He’s not old but there’s a finite number of films that he will 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 a movie is not the result of all that time working with Joaquin is a tragedy to me.
“That I can’t get over. The idea that we as a cultural community lost an opportunity to have a new movie by Todd Haynes is a tragedy.”
Phoenix was asked about his exit from the movie during the Joker: Folie à Deux press conference at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, but he declined to answer.
He said: “If I do, I’d just be sharing my opinion from my perspective and the other creatives aren’t here to share their piece so I don’t think that would be helpful. So I won’t.”
Joker: Folie à Deux meanwhile, is due for release on October 4.
One of the stars of the film recently revealed that Phoenix FaceTimed his mother in character as a prank on the set of the film.