“I’m ready:” Lewis Pullman is open to replacing Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Haynes’ gay drama
Lewis Pullman has volunteered to replace Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Hayne’s cancelled gay romance. Back in May 2023, the Dark Waters director announced that he was working with the Napolean star on an NC-17 gay romance drama. “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 me,” the May December director revealed to Indie Wire. “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 L.A..” A year later, Assassination Nation star Danny Ramirez joined the film as Phoenix’s love interest, with Deadline describing their characters as “intense lovers” who embark on a journey from California to Mexico.
While it seemed like everything was going according to plan, the project hit a major roadblock when Phoenix abruptly left the project in August.
According to Variety, a source alleged that the Gladiator star got “cold feet” due to the film’s graphic sex scenes. Since that fateful day, the Haynes’ project has presumably been shelved.
