Joaquin Phoenix has set his next project – and he's collaborating with director Todd Haynes on a gay romance set in Los Angeles in the '30s.
"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. "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."
Jon Raymond is an author and screenwriter who previously worked on Haynes' HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce and the scripts for several Kelly Reichardt movies, including First Cow and Meek's Cutoff. The director added, "Joaquin was pushing me further and going, 'No, let’s go further.' This will be an NC-17 film."
Haynes is no stranger to queer romance, having directed Carol, which starred Cate Blanchett and Phoenix's real-life partner Rooney Mara. His latest film, May December, recently premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival and stars Natalie Portman as an actor who travels to the home of a real-life woman, played by Julianne Moore, who she's set to portray in a film.
Phoenix, who most recently starred in Ari Aster's latest movie, Beau is Afraid, has several other upcoming projects in the works – he'll play the titular character in Ridley Scott's Napoleon Bonaparte biopic, as well as reprising the title role in Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to the 2019 movie that earned him an Oscar.
While we wait for Phoenix and Haynes' next movie to arrive on the big screen, check out our picks of the other best upcoming movies on the way in 2023 and beyond.
