Joaquin Phoenix Nearly Left Napoleon, Demanded Paul Thomas Anderson Do Rewrites

Amidst reports that Joaquin Phoenix backed out of his planned gay romance movie with Todd Haynes, a new report suggests that Phoenix nearly left Napoleon before Paul Thomas Anderson stepped in.

According to a recent report from THR, Phoenix getting “cold feet” ahead of a project start is not something that’s new. The report mentions that the legendary actor is “known” to get nervous ahead of projects, and reportedly threatened to leave the production of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon altogether if filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson didn’t come in to help do rewrites on the movie.

Anderson is not credited as a writer on the project, so it’s unclear what (if any) rewriting he helped out with in the movie. The Hollywood Reporter goes on to mention that the producing community has begun beating the drum for Phoenix to face legal actions for departing Haynes’ project.

What do we know about Phoenix’s departure from Todd Haynes movie?

In September 2023, Todd Haynes revealed that he was making a “sexually explicit movie” that tells a “love story between two men set in the 30s.” Phoenix had been cast as one of the men, while Captain America: Brave New World’s Danny Ramirez was tapped to play the other in July 2024.

Phoenix reportedly exited the project just a week or two prior to the movie’s planned production date according to a report from Deadline.

It’s not clear at this time why Phoenix decided to exit the film, which was being produced by Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler. A Deadline report last week called the film “dead’ without him, as there are no plans to recast the project. This leaves the production in a sizable economic hole, as crew members are still required to get paid.