US producer Christine Vachon has again addressed the controversy surrounding Joaquin Phoenix’s sudden departure from Todd Haynes’ gay drama days before shooting was due to begin.
Speaking in San Sebastián yesterday (September 24) in a fireside talk at the festival’s Creative Investors conference, the Killer Films producer initially refused to be drawn on the subject and claimed she didn’t know much more about the situation than had already been reported.
“Pretty much what happened is out there for all of you to read. I don’t know much more than that, I really don’t,” Vachon told event moderator Wendy Mitchell. “I’d gossip if I had anything to gossip about but I don’t.”
However, the producer went on to describe the last-minute implosion of the project as “tragic”.
“The most tragic part about it in my mind is that Todd Haynes is 62. He is not old – but there’s a finite number of films he’ll be able to do in his lifetime. I consider him one of the most extraordinary film artists of his generation. The idea that his time was wasted and that a movie is not a result of those years of working closely with Joaquin is a tragedy to me.
“That I can’t get over – that we as a cultural community lost an opportunity to have another movie by Todd Haynes. That is just criminal.”
Vachon also acknowledged the fallout from the controversy could affect investor confidence in risky and offbeat ventures.
“One of the other tragedies of the Joaquin Phoenix project is that we did have fantastic partners who were willing to take risks with us, some of whom are here [at the conference] and not chasing me with a crowbar.
“When something like that happens, I know that it sends a shockwave through the industry – like, ‘Oh fuck, if a company like Killer, a star like Joaquin, a filmmaker like Todd… if that fell at the finish line, then how will we take a risk on a first-time filmmaker or the actor who is still up and coming, the writer who is up and coming?’”
Vachon also claimed that last year’s Hollywood strikes were more damaging to the industry than Covid. “It went on for a lot longer than anybody thought. It allowed the studios to divest themselves of deals. But also a lot of writers and directors who were getting their first breaks really got scuttled, and I don’t know if they will ever truly recover.”
On a more upbeat note, Vachon spoke of her pleasure in securing her first ever Oscar nomination with Past Lives’ best picture nod earlier this year, which she produced with Killer Films partner Pamela Koffler and David Hinojosa.
“I don’t know if it meant anything to my career [but] I was thrilled, I was not at all cynical about it,” Vachon said, adding that she attended every Oscar-related event she could find.
“I had a great time. I have also been doing this for a long enough time to know that great movies don’t always get nominated. We all know that. Sometimes a shitty movie gets nominated. We all know that too. But I can’t be cynical about that!”
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