Recently, after his new film, “May December,” debuted at Cannes, filmmaker Todd Haynes teased what might be his next project. All that was said is the film will star Joaquin Phoenix and will be about two gay men in the 1930s. Now, he’s shedding a bit more light on that, including what might be a controversial anticipated rating.
In a new interview with IndieWire, Todd Haynes talked about the wealth of new projects he has cooking right now. This comes on the heels of “May December” wowing audiences at Cannes (and earning a healthy payday from Netflix for a North American release). And while he already has teased the Joaquin Phoenix film, which he hopes to shoot next year, it appears this untitled project could be one of the more controversial films coming soon, if the rating is any indication.
“The next film is a feature that’s an original script that I developed with Joaquin Phoenix based on some thoughts and ideas he brought to me,” Haynes explained. “We basically wrote with him as a story writer. Me and Jon Raymond and Joaquin share the story credit. And we hope to be shooting it beginning early next year. It’s a gay love story set in 1930s L.A.”
Adding to the intrigue of this new project, the filmmaker said the film will carry a rating that is frowned upon by most studios.
“Joaquin was pushing me further and going, ‘No, let’s go further,’” he continued. “This will be an NC-17 film.”
Obviously, when you see filmmakers talk about earning an NC-17, especially in a film featuring one of the biggest stars on the planet, your eyebrows raise a little. Not only is it difficult to land financing for a film with an “adults-only” rating, but those films just aren’t even released in theaters anymore. Now, that doesn’t mean a streamer won’t snatch it up. Last year, Netflix released “Blonde,” which carried an NC-17 rating and drew a lot of intrigue based on the rating alone.
Regardless of the rating, this project will be a must-see for film fans, as Haynes and Phoenix lending their talents to a film make it an instant awards discussion fixture.
