Carol and Far from Heaven director Todd Haynes is working on a thriller with Joaquin Phoenix that contains “explicit sexual content.”
In a recent interview with Variety, Haynes revealed new details about an upcoming film he’s working on with Joker and Napoleon’s Phoenix.
“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,” Haynes said. “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.
Haynes said the part of the Native American character has not yet been cast. The movie is looking to film in Mexico once the WGA (Writers Guild of America) and Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes have ended.
Joaquin Phoenix pushed the script into ‘dangerous territory, sexually’
Speaking further about Phoenix’s involvement in the movie, Haynes said, “[Phoenix] had fragments of ideas and then I started to formulate them into an actual narrative. And then I brought my wonderful, brilliant friend John Raymond, with whom I collaborated with on Mildred Pierce into the process. Basically, it was just this wonderful, organic way to create the script. And Joaquin was pushing it further into more dangerous territory, sexually.
Todd Haynes’ latest movie, May December, stars Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore. It is scheduled to release in select United States theaters on November 17, 2023, before it then hits Netflix on December 1, 2023.
