Phoenix infamously left the project just five days before it was set to begin filming.

Pedro Pascal saves Todd Haynes’ gay romance after Joaquin Phoenix’s controversial exit

Phoenix infamously left the project just five days before it was set to begin filming.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and *NME*.

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February 4, 2026 2:51 p.m. ET

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Pedro Pascal attens 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Sydney premiere. Credit:

Don Arnold/WireImage

Todd Haynes’ long-gestating gay love story *De Noche* has found its second wind. **

Almost a year and a half after Joaquin Phoenix controversially exited the film just five days before it was set to begin production, Pedro Pascal has officially joined its cast, MK2 Films, the project's new production company, confirmed Wednesday.**** Pascal will star opposite Danny Ramirez (*Top Gun: Maverick, Captain America: Brave New World*) in the period piece, which is slated to begin shooting next month. **

“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,” Haynes told *Variety*, which first reported the news. “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.”

Pedro Pascal; Danny Ramirez.

Travis P. Ball/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty; Sam Corum/PA Images via Getty

Written by Haynes and his longtime collaborator Jon Raymond, *De Noche* will tell the story of an unexpected romance between a hard-boiled detective (Pascal) and a boarding school teacher (Ramirez) in 1930s Los Angeles. When the pair find themselves becoming targets amid rampant political corruption in the city, they must flee to Mexico in order to survive. **

MK2 Films will produce the film alongside Killer Films, Paloma Negra Films, and Jonathan Montepare and Steven Demmler, in association with Cinetic Media. The company will also finance the project, handle its international sales, and split its domestic rights with Cinetic.

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“Few filmmakers connect with audiences as strongly as Todd Haynes,” MK2 Films managing director Fionnuala Jamison told *Variety*, noting that the filmmaker’s projects “such as *Carol* and *Far from Heaven* have left a lasting emotional impact worldwide.”

She continued, “*De Noche* carries that same power, and with Killer Films and a remarkable cast led by Pedro Pascal, it is a stand-out project we are proud to be a part of and share with buyers.”

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Pascal confirmed his casting on Instagram, sharing a collection of stills from Haynes’ previous films, including *I’m Not There *and *The Velvet Underground*. He also shared a snapshot of himself and Ramirez. “De nada,” he wrote.

The movie will mark Pascal and Ramirez’s third time sharing the screen together. The pair previously worked together on the second season of HBO’s Emmy-winning video game adaptation* The Last of Us*, and will star in the upcoming Marvel film *Avengers: Doomsday*.

Pedro Pascal in 2025.

Amy Sussman/Getty

Both Haynes and Ramirez mourned the film after it was placed in production limbo following Phoenix’s exit. Speaking with*Variety* in October 2024, Ramirez said that it was “definitely disappointing” that the film hadn’t come together.**

“If anything, it just gave me more inspiration to keep driving, keep pushing, and knowing that I’m on the right path and approaching the work the right way,” he added. “So that’s what I’m excited about.”**

Haynes also weighed in at the Marrakech Film Festival in December 2024. “What happened this summer was tough,” he said at the time. “But the film itself and the script itself may resurrect in a different form someday.”**

On his end, Phoenix sidestepped a question about his decision to leave the film during a *Joker: Folie à Deux *press conference that September. "I think, if I do, I'd just be sharing my opinion from my perspective and the other creatives aren't here to say their piece, and I just don't feel like that would be right. I'm not sure how that would be helpful," he said, according to Deadline. "So, I just I don't think I will."

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