The Todd Haynes film that Joaquin Phoenix nearly killed is officially back on

“This story, with Pedro Pascal and Danny Ramirez in the two leads, arises out of an era — all too relevant to our own — of domestic corruption, racial exploitation and global terror,” says Haynes. “But it emerges as a testament to the inexplicable powers of desire and love to survive and overcome even the most crippling of human barriers.” 

De Noche has already had a pretty twisty path to production after previous lead Joaquin Phoenix dropped out from the film in August 2024, just five days before it was set to begin production. Phoenix was already at the location in Guadalajara for filming, but reportedly got “cold feet,” despite having developed the script with Haynes. At the time, it seemed unlikely that the film would ever get made given that a bunch of other people needed to be paid for the time they had already sunk into pre-production—time which presumably didn’t result in any footage, either. However, the potential resurrection of De Noche was on the table again by last August, with Deadline reporting that Pascal was circling the role and that the film would have to work around his packed schedule. Apparently he found the time!