Joaquin Phoenix still won't answer why he left Todd Haynes' gay movie

"Um… I think if I do I would just be sharing my opinion from my perspective, and the other creatives aren't here to say their piece and that just doesn't feel like that would be right, not sure how that would be helpful, so, I just don't think I will. Yeah. Thank you."

Many people also feel it was not right and not helpful the way Phoenix abruptly left the project, which he had brought to Haynes. Others feel it continues to be "not right" the way Phoenix is avoiding explaining why he left.

Still others feel the way Phoenix left the crew out of work and stakeholders without payment was not right.

The project, which was unnamed, was initially pitched to Haynes by Phoenix, who also kept pushing for the gay content to be more and more extreme.

“The next film is a feature that’s an original script that I developed with Joaquin Phoenix based on some thoughts and ideas he brought to me,” Haynes told IndieWire in 2023. “We basically wrote with him as a story writer. Me and Jon Raymond and Joaquin share the story credit. And we hope to be shooting it beginning early next year. It’s a gay love story set in 1930s LA.”

“Joaquin was pushing me further and going ‘no, let’s go further,’” he added. “This will be an NC-17 film.”

It was meant to co-star Danny Ramirez, who would play Phoenix's lover.

Then, this August, just five days before filming was set to begin, Phoenix left the project without giving a reason.

Because the film was Phoenix's idea, there are no plans to recast and the movie will most likely never happen.