By “Carol,” “Far from Heaven” and “May December” director Todd Haynes’ next film, a 1930s gay detective noir starring Joaquin Phoenix, will reportedly start production next week indicates World of Reel.
Additionally Mavericks Movies (via The Film Stage) reports that cinematographer Maryse Alberti will serve as the film’s director of photography.
Alberti and Haynes previously teamed on the 1998 cult classic “Velvet Goldmine” and his earlier work “Poison”. She’s also worked on films like “The Wrestler” and “Creed”.
Haynes has been working with cinematographer Edward Lachman on his more recent films until Lachman broke his hip in 2022.
The film, co-written by Haynes and Jon Raymond, reportedly embraces full detective noir tropes but re-imagined as a “lyrical, sexually charged romance” according to MK2Films.
Here, Phoenix’s Richard Rent is a volatile cop in 1930s Los Angeles. He and Joe Thomas, a deeply assimilated Native American schoolteacher, become targets of the city’s corrupt political machine.
Together they must flee together to Mexico to survive. As the threat of global war looms, they enter a brutal yet tender love affair on the humid jungles of the Western coastline – one that rearranges their perceptions of the past, the future, and themselves.
Haynes has previous described the film as a ‘button pusher’ that plans to push some real limits in regards to its rating. No release date has yet been set but a Cannes 2025 premiere is likely being targeted.
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