Director Todd Haynes' Next Film Will Be a Sexually Explicit Gay Thriller Love Story Starring Joaquin Phoenix

Oscar-nominated director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Carol) is on the press rounds doing interviews for his upcoming Oscar-buzz film, May December, and amid the promotion, Haynes is also talking about the film he is currently working on developing with Academy Award-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line, Joker).

In an interview with Variety, Haynes described the film, saying:

“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. 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.”

He went on to talk about Phoenix’s involvement in the development of the story, saying:

“He 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.”

Haynes says they haven’t yet found the actor who will star opposite Phoenix, but said, “It’s probably going to be a discovery.” The film is still in early stages of writing and development, but Haynes also said that they will keep the project low-budget so that they can keep creative control over the direction of the story. We will keep you updated as the project moves forward.