Todd Haynes' Next Movie is an NC-17 Gay Romance With Joaquin Phoenix

Todd Haynes is fresh off the debut of his latest film and he’s already teasing us with exciting news about his next one.

Haynes is one of the best directors in Hollywood, and his gay period pieces are some of his most beloved. Now, he’s working on another movie that will join that category soon, as he revealed in a conversation with IndieWire about what he’s going to do after May December.

Haynes was at Cannes to promote the premiere of his latest film, May December, which follows an actress (Natalie Portman) who travels to Maine to study the life of a real woman (Julianne Moore) she’s set to play in a movie. The film is getting rave reviews.

After teasing an HBO project with Kate Winslet, the Velvet Goldmine and Carol director laid out his plans for his next film.

“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,” he told IndieWire. “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 LA.”

We’re already sold, but things get even better from there. According to Haynes, the collaboration between him and Phoenix led to the film becoming more extreme.

“Joaquin was pushing me further and going ‘no, let’s go further,’” he said. “This will be an NC-17 film.”

We can’t wait! Haynes is one of the great gay auteurs of his day, and Phoenix is one of the best actors of his generation, so this will surely be a movie for the ages!