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Joaquin Phoenix’s Last-Minute Exit Sparks “Huge Amount of Outrage” Among Hollywood Producers

The Oscar winner departed Todd Haynes’ gay romance drama just five days before production began, a move insiders say makes legal action against him a likely outcome.

“There’s been a huge amount of outrage,” says one studio exec of the reaction from Hollywood producers to Phoenix’s last-minute departure, which left cast and crew in a lurch, and now opens the actor up to the possibility of legal action, according to sources. The actor is indeed known to get cold feet ahead of filming on various projects.Two sourcestell THR that he threatened to leave Ridley Scott’s Napoleon unless his The Master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson was brought in to do rewrites. In recent days, the drumbeat has gotten louder among the producing community for legal action to be brought against Phoenix, with insiders pointing to examples throughout Hollywood history of actors being held accountable for leaving films without a star.

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