I’m Not Mad, Joaquin. I’m Just Disappointed in You.

Today was supposed to see commencement of principal photography in Guadalajara on Todd Haynes’ new movie, an untitled romantic thriller starring Joaquin Phoenix as a corrupt police detective who begins a torrid love affair with Top Gun: Maverick’s Danny Ramirez in the 1930s in California before fleeing to Mexico. Phoenix taking on the lead role was not only one of the major selling points that convinced investors to put down money on the project, but he was also reportedly one of the leading creative forces on the film, having approached Haynes with the story idea in the first place and actively developing the script with him and co-writer Jon Raymond.

But now, according to Deadline, the project is “completely dead.” It was reportedly far along enough in pre-production that crew members are owed money for a film that will never be made and losses are estimated to eventually reach seven figures or even higher. All because its lead actor and co-producer supposedly got “cold feet” just five days before this thing was scheduled to begin filming and stormed off the set in a huff.

It has not been easy for us Haynes fans over the last few years. May December managed only a single Best Original Screenplay nomination at the Academy Awards, despite three lauded performances in its ensemble. Fever, his proposed biopic about Peggy Lee starring Michelle Williams, has been stuck in development hell. His limited series adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Trust seems to have stalled out at HBO HBO Go HBO Now HBO Max Max, the one to watch for HBO (thanks a lot, David!). And now he has to deal with the last-minute collapse of his ambitious period romance originally midwifed into being by an actor who, at the time, was riding on the wave of both his biggest box office hit and Academy Award-winning role. Haynes’ longtime producer Christine Vachon has, very understandably, described this entire situation as “a nightmare.”

And look, I’m not here to engage in pearl-clutching over the failure of a major movie project to go forward. As YouTube’s most infamous plagiarist learned the hard way recently, it is very difficult to make even a short film, let alone a full-length feature, let alone one with a serious budget and crew and cast behind it requiring filming in at least two different countries. The very act of driving a film project to completion, even one that results in a bad movie, is in itself a logistical miracle and a triumph of artistic willpower, and I do not mean that with even the slightest hint of hyperbole (in fact, I am reasonably certain that anyone reading this part of the article with hands-on experience in filmmaking is eagerly nodding along). Nor am I intending to catastrophize the state of Todd Haynes’ career. He will be able to recover from this. This is a man whose first cinematic work was literally pulled from circulation after losing a copyright lawsuit; he has experience dealing with setbacks, dusting himself off, and moving forward to still be able to make the kinds of movies he wants to make. And, as Guillermo del Toro, Darren Aronofsky, and Kevin Smith can personally attest to, a filmmaker can successfully bounce back from not one or two, but multiple planned film projects that ultimately don’t get made.

But I have been very surprised at how the reports of this project’s sudden collapse – at least all the ones that I have stumbled upon around the internet – seem to be very… passive, in describing what actually happened. As if it was just an unfortunate turn of fate or an unforeseen natural disaster that occurred. But that’s not what happened. It was abandoned by the production’s star and literal creative progenitor at the last-minute. Without warning, or a public explanation to all those cast and crewmembers now out of a job, or a contingency to keep the project alive in his absence, or even a phony public show of amicable “due to creative differences” parting. He just… leaves. And to my knowledge, Phoenix has yet to explain himself to anyone.

I know we’re all fans of him as an actor and several of us are eagerly anticipating him living in a society once again in Joker: Folie à Deux and all, but let’s set aside our cinephile feelings for a moment and get real, here: if any of us had done something like this in our day jobs, if we had insisted on pursuing an ambitious construction or sales or human resources or IT project with our employer that brought in real money to make happen, marshalled the talents of dozens of professionals who were expecting to be paid for this months-long undertaking that you proactively and enthusiastically brought forward, only for you to get “cold feet” and unexpectedly abandon the entire endeavor within the week it was set to commence, causing it to fall through and cost those investors money and all those hired professionals what they planned on being a secured paying gig, that would not only be the end of your employment at that company, your whacked last-minute stunt would very likely result in you being blackballed from that entire industry.

And yet, because we’re talking about Joaquin Phoenix, this is weirdly being tacitly accepted as just the unfortunate-but-unavoidable job hazard of working with someone so qUiRkY and idiosyncratic. We’ll just idly speculate on whether he got uncomfortable with how explicit the gay sex scenes were going to be or perhaps he was frustrated that the homosexuality was being toned down and not as explicit as he originally set out for them to be because he will not compromise!!! … as if either explanation would be an acceptable excuse for his blatantly unprofessional behavior.

After Spike Jonze decided Samantha Morton’s voice just wasn’t the right “fit” for Theodore Twombly’s A.I. paramour in Her, she took the decision to recast the role with Scarlett Johansson in good spirits and continued to support the production to its completion. If only Phoenix had been involved with that movie, you know? Maybe if he had acted in that project and been directed by Jonze, and could follow the example set by Morton’s mature, professional reaction to a creative decision that had to have disappointed her? Maybe she could have inspired him to have a single conversation with Haynes or Vachon ahead of time to resolve his creative disputes like an adult and help them prepare for a situation where those disputes were irreconcilable? Maybe make a single phone call to one of his actor pals to tell him “Hey, bud, I know this is short notice, but there is this awesome project that I no longer feel I’m the right man to star in, but I have been working on it from the start and there are great people committed to it and still really believe in it and think you’d be way better for the lead role than me. Can you step in?”

But he didn’t do that. Possibly because he knows he can get away with just walking away impulsively after making a commitment, but that doesn’t mean I have to just see him do it without expressing my… disappointment, with his unprofessional behavior sabotaging the livelihoods of several crewmembers, the artistic visions of committed artists and storytellers, and costing good-faith investors a lot of money.

Yeah, I think that is the word that perfectly describes how I feel about this. It is very disappointing to see a 49 year-old adult with over four decades of experience as a screen actor behave like this, with no regard for the consequences.