Joaquín Phoenix

The issue is that he had the idea for this movie, co-wrote it and asked to a respected filmmaker to direct it. They got the financing thanks to his name then they hired crew people (who apparently hasn’t been paid yet) and five days before shooting it with all hired people already doing their jobs, he abandoned it.

It’s not like someone leaving a random project in an amicable way because a scheduling issue. His name was totally attached to it and he had other people working on it and he just abandoned it and let them literally paying for the broken dishes. A similar example would be if BC had decided at last minute to abandon the Hamlet play when Marvel first offered him the Dr. Strange role.

Also Todd Haynes is a very important filmmaker. Even a bad film by him would be an auteur film (and again it was Phoenix idea!). He is a very independent and suffering artist, by the way! I remember that in the book about Miramax, it was frequently mentioned that he was bullied by Weinstein and that he is a very sensitive man so it wasn’t easy for him. I really feel bad for him.

EDITED I think I’m a case like this, the only good excuse would be something major like an illness or an accident. It was something imminent with pre-production finished and everyone working just for him. 

I don’t know. It would be pretty odd for a publicity stunt especially if there are workers waiting for their salary in Guadalajara! Phoenix has a past doing odd publicity stunts, tho. But this would be too much!

He seems even more capricious than Jared Leto (someone posted a quote by Jacques Audiard saying something about him below the post by the producer of Todd Haynes film but it was in French and I didn’t made an effort to translate it! lol) and TBF Leto seems to be joking a lot of the times. I am probably wrong but I had the impression that he just exaggerates his eccentricities on set just to amuse himself.