Joaquin Phoenix is set to star in a period gay romance, director Todd Haynes revealed at the Cannes International Film Festival earlier this week.
Haynes, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker known for “Carol” and “Far From Heaven,” discussed several of his upcoming projects during a conversation with IndieWire’s Eric Kohn at the American Pavilion on Monday night.
One of them, his next feature film, will be an original script he co-developed with Phoenix “based on some thoughts and ideas he brought to me.”
Without revealing much of the plot, Haynes summarized the upcoming project as “a gay love story set in 1930s L.A.”
“We basically wrote with [Phoenix] as a story writer,” Haynes, 62, said of creating the script, which he expects to start shooting early next year. “Me and Jon Raymond and Joaquin share the story credit.” (Raymond is a Portland, Oregon-based writer who was nominated for an Emmy in 2011, alongside Haynes, for HBO’s limited series “Mildred Pierce.”)
Phoenix, a 48-year-old Oscar and Grammy winner praised for his intensity and commitment to his art, should not disappoint his LGBTQ fans, according to Haynes — one of the most influential voices in queer cinema who often tells the stories of queer and marginalized characters.
“Joaquin was pushing me further and going ‘no, let’s go further,’” the openly gay filmmaker said. “This will be an NC-17 film.”
Phoenix, who is in a relationship and shares a child with “Carol” actress Rooney Mara, has recently received rave reviews for his work in the surrealist horror tragicomedy film “Beau Is Afraid,” written and directed by Ari Aster.
