Appearing to present his Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore-led “May December” film at the Deauville American Film Festival this week, filmmaker Todd Haynes spoke to Variety and discussed his next directorial effort.
Phoenix reportedly had “fragments of ideas” for the story and shared them with Haynes, who then began to come up with an actual narrative over the phone.
After that, John Raymond, with whom Haynes worked on the “Mildred Pierce” mini-series got involved to help craft the work.
The film, which currently doesn’t have a title, will star Joaquin Phoenix in a romance tale between two very different men set in the 1930s. Haynes says the plan is to challenge the audience as it aims to really push boundaries:
“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 with a strong sexual component… Joaquin was pushing it further into more dangerous territory.”
As for who is going to play the part of the Native American character? Haynes says: “We don’t know yet. We’ve got to find him. It’s probably going to be a discovery.”
In terms of filming, it sounds like much of the crew from “May December” will return for this with research underway and talks currently happening with Mexican co-producers that may end up seeing much of the project shot in Mexico.
He adds: “We hope we’ll be shooting by early summer. It’s a little tricky because of the strike and projects of Joaquin’s that have gotten stopped.”
