Joaquin Phoenix drops out of Todd Haynes‘ untitled gay romance movie

Joaquin Phoenix has dropped out of Todd Haynes‘ untitled gay romance movie, just five days before filming was due to begin.

The 49-year-old actor reportedly got "cold feet" and exited the project, days before the film was set to start shooting in Guadalajara, Variety reports.

Entire sets had already been built on location and there is now doubt about the future of the movie, as it reportedly hinged on Phoenix's casting.

A source told Variety: "The project is in peril... The crew is now out of work, and stakeholders in the film still need to be paid. Losses could exceed seven figures."

'Top Gun: Maverick' actor Danny Ramirez, 31, had been cast opposite Phoenix in the movie, about two men who are intense lovers and leave California for Mexico.

The film was said to be rated NC-17 and feature a relationship that will “challenge” audiences and it has been speculated that Phoenix quit due to the "graphic nature of the film’s sex scenes".

However, Haynes previously revealed Phoenix brought the script to him and was "pushing it further into more dangerous territory, sexually".

He told Variety last year: "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 LA 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 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."