Category Archives: Venice Film Festival

Joaquin Phoenix Sidesteps Question About His Abrupt Exit From Gay Drama Film

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Joaquin Phoenix won’t be discussing his recent controversy without the affected parties.

The Oscar winner, who made headlines last month for exiting a gay drama movie just days before director Todd Haynes was set to begin filming, addressed the matter publicly for the first time during a press conference on Wednesday.

“I would just be sharing my opinion from my perspective and the other creatives aren’t here to say their piece, and it just doesn’t feel like that would be right,” he said at the Venice International Film Festival.

“I’m not sure how that would be helpful. So, I just, I don’t think I will.”

Joaquin was in the middle of a press conference for Joker: Folie À Deux at the time and, flanked by director Todd Phillips and co-star Lady Gaga, shared some engrossing details about his preparation for reprising his role as the Joker in the new sequel.

Social media users are nonetheless still curious about Joaquin’s sudden departure from the unnamed Todd Haynes film, billed as a same-sex romance between a corrupt cop and a Native American who flee 1930s Los Angeles and head to Mexico.

Danny Ramirez, who appeared in 2022′s Top Gun: Maverick, had been cast as Joaquin’s love interest, and crews had reportedly already been hired in Guadalajara. But with no apparent plans to recast the Joker star’s role, the project has indefinitely stalled.

A representative for Todd Haynes told Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday that the director “will not be able to comment” on Joaquin’s remarks in Italy. However, producer Christine Vachon issued a blunt reaction to his abrupt departure in August.

“It has been a nightmare,” Vachon reportedly said in a now-deleted Facebook post.

Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix
Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix

Vittorio Zunino Celotto via Getty Images

Vachon, whose company has produced all of Todd Haynes’ feature films, seemed particularly miffed at Joaquin Phoenix, saying the movie “was HIS project that he brought to US” before changing his mind. A source close to the film told Variety that Phoenix got “cold feet”.

The actor has acknowledged experiencing the jitters over his acting work before, saying last year that he was “terrified” about his role as Commodus in 2000′s Gladiator.

“I’d obviously been acting since I was a kid,” he said on CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast at the time. “I’d never been a part of a major production. And when I arrived on set for Gladiator, honestly, I was so sick. I was shaking.”

Joaquin went on to receive an Oscar nomination for that performance, but wouldn’t win his first Academy Award until 2020 with his part in Joker, the predecessor to Folie À Deux.

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Everyone’s Saying The Same Thing After Lady Gaga’s Comments About Whether Joker II Is A Musical

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As the release date for the long-awaited Joker sequel approaches, we’re somehow no closer to working out whether or not the film is a musical.

When the new movie, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, was first reported back in 2022, it was claimed that it would be a musical, although its cinematographer downplayed this during an interview earlier this year.

Since then, everyone from director Todd Haynes to Joaquin himself has had a go at discussing Joker: Folie À Deux’s musical elements – and whether it’s actually a musical or just a “film with music”.

Ahead of the movie’s Venice Film Festival premiere, Gaga was asked again about the project’s relationship with music.

“The way that we approached music in this film was very special and extremely nuanced,” she explained.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that this is actually a musical, in a lot of ways it’s very different. The music is used to really give the characters a way to express what they need to say, because the scene and just the dialogue is not enough.”

Now… is it just us… or is that not just exactly what a musical is? Either way, we’re pleased to see we weren’t the only ones confused…

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I mean… isn’t that how musicals usually work?

— Michael Sheridan (@SheridanWriter) September 4, 2024

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I mean… isn’t that how musicals usually work?

— Michael Sheridan (@SheridanWriter) September 4, 2024

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what does anyone involved with this movie think a musical actually is?!

— wolfgangg (@wolfygangg) September 4, 2024

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what does anyone involved with this movie think a musical actually is?!

— wolfgangg (@wolfygangg) September 4, 2024