Todd Haynes and Joaquin Phoenix’s upcoming romance movie, which will be rated NC-17, is looking to begin filming this summer.
Per Deadline, Haynes and Phoenix’s new, still-untitled movie is looking to go into production in the summer of 2024. Anatomy Of A Fall sales firm MK2 has officially boarded the project and will be discussing the film with potential buyers in the coming weeks.
What do we know about Todd Haynes and Joaquin Phoenix’s new movie?
Haynes told IndieWire in May 2023, “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. 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.”
He added the movie will dive heavily into adult subject matter, saying, “Joaquin was pushing me further and going ‘no, let’s go further.’ This will be an NC-17 film.”
Haynes also told Variety in September 2023, “It’s a love story between two men set in the 30s that has explicit sexual content that or at least it challenges you with the sexual relationship between these two men. One is a Native American character and one is a corrupt cop in LA. It’s set in the 30s. They have to flee L.A. ultimately and go to Mexico. But it’s a love story and with a strong sexual component. And what was so remarkable is that it all started with Joaquin having some ideas and some thoughts and just questions and images. And he came to me and said, ‘Does this connect to you at all?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, this is really interesting.’ And so we would just be on the phone talking and it developed into a script.”
Phoenix is presumably playing the corrupt cop, while additional casting is currently underway. The movie does not yet have a release date.
Haynes is known for making 2002’s Far From Heaven, 2007’s I’m Not There, 2015’s Carol, 2017’s Wonderstruck, 2019’s Dark Waters, and 2021’s The Velvet Underground. His most recent movie, May December, is currently streaming on Netflix.
