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Pedro Pascal is reportedly being eyed for the lead role in director Todd Haynes’ upcoming gay romance film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Deadline, the 50-year-old actor is in talks to take over from Joaquin Phoenix, who abruptly exited the movie in August 2024, five days ahead of when filming was scheduled to begin.
Now titled De Noche, the Killer Films project is scheduled to begin production in in Guadalajara, Mexico, in early 2026, per Deadline, citing sources.
The outlets report that Pascal would star opposite Danny Ramirez as lovers in the movie, which takes place during the 1930s.
PEOPLE reached out to Killer Films and reps for Pascal and Haynes, 64, for comment.
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Phoenix, who developed the then-untitled movie with Haynes and author Jon Raymond, pulled out five days ahead of production, which was set to start in Guadalajara last summer.
Back in 2023, Haynes told IndieWire of the movie’s subject matter, “Joaquin was pushing me further and going, ‘No, let’s go further,’ ” adding, “This will be an NC-17 film.”
“The whole experience was prompted by Joaquin,” the May December filmmaker continued. “It was prompted by his daring, his desire to push through barriers and to really get into the uncomfortable places about this relationship. And yet it felt like a very organic process.”
Phoenix, 50, was asked about the exit at the Venice International Film Festival last September during a press conference for his movie Joker: Folie à Deux, and declined to comment.
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“If I do [speak about the reasoning], I’d just be sharing my opinion from my perspective, and the other creatives aren’t here to say their piece, and it just doesn’t feel like that would be right,” the Oscar winner told reporters.
“I’m not sure how that would be helpful. So I don’t think I will,” he added.
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Pascal has starred in three films released this summer: Materialists, Eddington (which also costarred Phoenix) and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
One summer hit that Pascal was supposed to appear in originally and didn’t is Zach Cregger’s horror flick Weapons. Pascal was originally attached to play Josh Brolin’s character Archer Graff, a dad hell-bent on finding his missing son.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cregger, 44, said of the cast changes that included Pascal and others, “We had the strike, and then Pedro Pascal’s schedule threw us into turmoil. I had to recast the entire movie.”
“This is what happens, right? The strikes delayed us, and then when you delay, people’s schedules get conflicts, and then you’re back at square one,” he added. “I bear no ill will towards anybody. We just kept getting delayed and delayed. It’s like a domino effect. So I had to start over again.”
