Joaquin Phoenix has broken his silence on his abrupt departure from the gay romance film, directed by Todd Haynes, he was set to star in.

IndieWire first reported that Phoenix had shockingly dropped out just five days before filming was set to commence.

A source close to the production told Variety that the Joker actor had reportedly got ‘cold feet’, which contributed to him dropping out.

The film was set to feature Phoenix opposite Top Gun: Maverick star Danny Ramirez, with the two playing gay lovers.

Ramirez was set to star in the film opposite Phoenix. (Paramount Pictures)

This was set to feature graphic sex scenes, with the concept of the film centring around an NC-17 rating, the most mature that a film can be and still receive a wide-release.

In an interview with Variety, Ramirez teased the film was a ‘love story between two men set in the ’30s that has explicit sexual content.’

While there was speculation that the drop-out may have been to do with this, sources close to the film were not convinced.

Variety wrote: “That theory is confusing to some sources, who reiterate that it was Phoenix who brought the project — and its NC-17 concept — to Haynes in the first place.”

According to Todd Haynes, the concept for the film started as fragmented ideas by Phoenix, which he turned into a script.

He then said: “Basically it was just this wonderful, organic way to create the script.

“Joaquin was pushing it further into more dangerous territory, sexually.”

Phoenix is an Oscar winner for The Joker. (Warner Brothers)

Phoenix was asked about this at a press conference for the sequel to Joker, Joker: Folie a Deux.

The actor is currently in Venice for the Venice Film Festival, when he was questioned about dropping out of the film.

According to Kyle Buchanan of the New York Times, Phoenix said: “It would just be sharing my opinion and the other creatives aren’t here to share their piece.

“It doesn’t feel like that would be right. I don’t think that would be helpful so I just don’t think I will. Thank you.”

Due to the short notice nature of Phoenix pulling out of the film, losses are thought to exceed seven figures.

According to inside sources that spoke to IndieWire, several stakeholders will still have to be compensated for the film.

As well as this, Ramirez will no longer be able to star in the film, as the movie was contingent on Phoenix’s involvement.

LADbible had contacted a representative for Todd Haynes’ for a comment.

Joaquin Phoenix fans have flooded to Twitter in concern for the star ahead of his return as the Joker.

The sequel to 2019 film Joker was confirmed by director Todd Phillips just last week.

However, while fans of the psychological thriller are delighted to see Joaquin Phoenix’s return, many are also concerned with the amount of weight the actor may now need to lose in order to get back into the role.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Phoenix previously revealed how losing 52 pounds to play the role turned into something akin to a ‘disorder’.

He told the Associated Press: “Once you reach the target weight, everything changes.

“Like so much of what’s difficult is waking up every day and being obsessed over like 0.3 pounds. Right? And you really develop like a disorder.”

Ells🌱

@C0MP0SUR3

·Follow

Ok so Joker is amazing and all but is joaquin phoenix okay?? Sounds like he has developed an eating disorder from the weight loss for the movie

However, Phoenix noted how important it was for him to lose the weight in order to portray the Joker’s character exactly how he wanted.

The actor explained he anticipated the ‘feelings of dissatisfaction, hunger, a certain kind of vulnerability and a weakness’ that come with the weight loss.

“But what I didn’t anticipate was this feeling of kind of fluidity that I felt physically,” he continued.

“I felt like I could move my body in ways that I hadn’t been able to before. And I think that really lent itself to some of the physical movement that started to emerge as an important part of the character.”

Warner Bros. Pictures

Despite the importance of truly embodying the character of the Joker for Phoenix, fans have been left worried.

One said: “I was just thinking that Joaquin has to lose all that weight again. That’s so not healthy for the body.”

“Poor Joaquin needs to lose all his body weight again,” another commented.

A third said: “Joaquin right now thinking ‘have I gotta lose all that weight again?’”

A

@aus_toon

·Follow

Joaquin’s stomach when he has to lose all that weight again

I was just thinking that Joaquin has to lose all that weight again. That’s so not healthy for the body.😬

cinesthetic.

@TheCinesthetic

Joaquin Phoenix reading the script of Joker 2. Photographed by Todd Phillips.

One inspiration for the character of the Joker saw Phoenix look to American vaudevillian dancer Ray Bolger.

Phoenix was shown videos of Bolger by choreographer Michael Arnold and became captivated by Bolger’s movement.

He said: “There was a particular song called ‘The Old Soft Shoe’ that he performed and I saw a video of it and there’s this odd arrogance almost to his movements and, really, I completely just stole it from him.”

The actor explained how he ‘zeroed in’ on one particular video which shows Arnold doing ‘this thing of turning his chin up’.

“‘That was Joker, right?’ There’s an arrogance to him, really. That was probably the greatest influence. But also disco,” he noted.

A date hasn’t yet been set for the release of Joker: Folie à Deux – the movie’s current working title.

Poor Things star Mark Ruffalo admitted that he didn’t feel completely comfortable filming sex scenes for the new x-rated film.

He revealed there were a number of reasons as to why he felt this way, which left him feeling ‘worried’.

The Avengers actor plays lawyer Duncan Winterburn who ultimately seduces Emma Stone’s character, Bella Baxter, from her regular life to join him in travelling the world.

In sex scenes between the two, they can be seen demonstrating several positions around a hotel room, although one scene was so graphic that it needed to be edited in accordance with UK Law.

People who have seen the film have even described it to be more disturbing than Saltburn, another controversial title released recently.

Despite this, Stone won a Golden Globe for her performance in Poor Things, with critics receiving the film well.

While filming though, Ruffalo had some moments of uncertainty, particularly during graphic scenes.

Film4

Speaking to Perfect Magazine, the 56-year-old said: “I didn’t know if I could pull this off. I’ve never done anything like this before. So, like, the sex scenes,

“Am I too old to be doing that kind of stuff? Does anyone want to see that?”

While speaking to Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Ruffalo again admitted that he was initially hesitant: “I was like, ‘Do I have to?’ All I can hear is, ‘Nobody wants to see your old a** anymore. Maybe you shouldn’t be doing movies like that anymore’.

During sex scenes, the character of Duncan gets to know (quite well) Bella’s ‘hairy business’, as referred to in the movie, as she goes through a journey of sexual and personal self-discovery.

Ruffalo admitted that he needed more padding to help him film the scenes, telling Marvel co-star Robert Downey Jr. in a Variety video: “Do you know I had an a** pad in? My legs were, like, four inches bigger. My calf was four inches.”

Film4

In the end, the actor found a way to cope with the raunchy scenes: “I mean, it’s my least favorite part of it, but I also saw it as very comedic and also, like, an extension of the physical comedy that we were already finding.

“So it was just another way to tell the story.”

He also revealed that he wore a corset and shoulder pads to give director Yorgos Lanthimos the silhouette he wanted, as he wanted Ruffalo to ‘look like a bird’.

Stone, on the other hand, had no problems with being nude on camera, with Lanthimos even revealing that she had racy suggestions for some of the x-rated scenes.

Poor Things is out now in cinemas across the UK and Ireland.

As well as introducing the world to a string of young British stars who have gone on to do great things, Skins pretty much guided the majority of its fans throughout their teenage years.

Although it was very sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, the show was also a sort of moral compass for people who were also navigating their adolescence – as whatever those lot did, was probably what you shouldn’t do.

The series centred on a group of sixth formers from Bristol delved into some deep subjects; such as substance abuse, sexuality, teenage pregnancy, mental health issues and eating disorders.

Channel 4

Although it’s pretty heavy viewing, the outrageous and emotive storylines paved the way for a lot of positive conversations as it was the first time that the issues youngsters in the UK typically deal with were brought under a spotlight.

It’s debut on Channel 4‘s E4 in January 2007 marked a change in TV as we know it, as the gang of amateur actors who were fighting over fellas, struggling with their home life and grappling with what to do after leaving school were more relatable than anything we’d ever seen before.

Although a lot of positive things came from Skins, some of the stars have since spoken out about the difficulties they faced during filming and how they were ‘traumatised’ after shooting some explicit scenes.

April Pearson – who played Tony Stonem’s (Nicholas Hoult) on-again, off-again girlfriend Michelle Richardson – opened up about the ‘f***ed up experience’ she had while making the hit first seasons of the series which ran from 2007 to 2013.

During an episode of her podcast Are You Michelle From Skins? in 2021, the Age of Kill star, 35, sat down with fellow former cast-member Laya Lewis, who starred as Liv Malone in seasons five and six of Skins.

Both of the actresses had just turned 18 when they were cast in Skins, which they believe largely contributed to the number of sex scenes their characters were given.

They both claimed that they felt vulnerable and unprotected while filming intimate moments.

Pearson explained: “At the time you’re young and you don’t know any better. You don’t really know what to say, to speak out, is this okay… And as with a lot of victims of trauma, you look back at it and think: ‘Yeah, that was f***ed up’.

“There’s a difference between being officially old enough and mentally old enough. I was having this conversation with my husband and I was saying I do feel like I was too young, I feel like I wasn’t protected,” she said.

E4

Lewis then added: “I do think fair enough, we are actors and we are acting, but I think if you want to pluck children out of the street, which is essentially what they were doing to have this authentic onscreen thing going on, there needs to be a bit more help.”

The pair then claimed that other cast members have also ‘carried some negativity’ from the experience of filming.

Kaya Scodelario, who starred as Effy Stonem, previously alleged that ‘the safeguarding wasn’t there’ during filming, while Jack O’Connell, who played James Cook, admitted he felt ‘compromised’ while shooting sex scenes.

Pearson continued on the podcast: “We’re talking seven series of the same show and everyone feeling the same, certainly the women and some of the men I have spoken to feel the same.

“Nowadays you have an intimacy co-ordinator as a standard for nude, intimate scenes and that just simply wasn’t a thing,” she explained.

E4

The Skins stars also went on to discuss the pressures they felt to be ‘smaller or slimmer’ while creating the show, with Lewis alleging that they were told to ‘skip breakfast’ and told to ‘just have a jacket potato’ for dinner.

The 31-year-old claimed she and other teenage cast members had to line up in bikinis while being stared at by the crew who then decided ‘if [they] looked good enough to film in Morocco‘.

“Costume told me to go first because I’m the most comfortable one, to show the other girls it’s not that bad — but it was bad… I will never forget that moment,” Lewis continued.

“At the time I thought it was horrible, but I think it’s so much f***ing worse now.”

LADbible have contacted Channel 4 for comment.