Joaquin Phoenix’s exit
Last year, Joaquin Phoenix had made headlines. Not for his upcoming Joker sequel, but because Phoenix would exit from a Todd Haynes film about gay lovers just as it was about to go into production. Haynes’ film revolves around two men who are intense lovers and leave California for Mexico. The reason for Phoenix’s exit is unclear. Still, some have wondered if the project’s intimate and explicit content was a factor. While Phoenix was promoting Joker: Folie à Deux at the Venice Film Festival, he was asked briefly about the situation and replied, “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.”
De Noche is resurrected
According to Variety, the Todd Haynes movie is now back on track. It sports the title De Noche and Pedro Pascal is taking over the role that Phoenix vacated before filming began. The project also picked up a new financier with MK2, the French indie company that recently released Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent. More details about the plot have also been revealed. Per Variety, “The story, which echoes classic noirs like Chinatown, charts the passionate and unexpected love affair between a cop (Pascal) and a boarding school teacher (Ramirez) in 1930s Los Angeles, when the city is overtaken by corruption and the world is on the brink of war. The two men become targets of the city’s corrupt political machine and are forced to flee to Mexico.” Phoenix looks to have recently been cast as the hard-boiled detective.
Pascal is a workhorse, with the actor being seen in three films just last year. He is committed to both Marvel and Star Wars, but has always found time for smaller movies just like this.
Haynes stated, “This story, with Pedro Pascal and Danny Ramirez in the two leads, arises out of an era — all too relevant to our own — of domestic corruption, racial exploitation and global terror.” He continued, “But it emerges as a testament to the inexplicable powers of desire and love to survive and overcome even the most crippling of human barriers.”
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