Almost 10 years before Joaquin Phoenix abruptly dropped out of Todd Haynes’ queer detective film, it turned out that Phoenix also dropped out of another production: M. Night Shyamalan’s 2016 film “Split.”
“Split” lead James McAvoy addressed rumors that Phoenix left the project just weeks before filming began, prompting McAvoy to take on the role originally intended for the “Joker” star. That gave McAvoy just 14 days to prepare for the role of a character who has 15 different personalities.
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“I’m confident enough to believe I’m going to do better. That was a joke!” McAvoy said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in the video below when asked if he felt pressured to approach Phoenix’s role that way. “He’s a great actor. I think he would give a very different performance than me, but I think he would give an incredible performance.”
McAvoy continued, “Sometimes it’s best to get in at the last minute. I think he canceled it two weeks before shooting started. It was really last minute. I had two weeks (to prepare).”
McAvoy praised director Shyamalan’s script for being accessible enough to allow for last-minute preparations.
“The script was well put together, so a lot of what I wanted to do was pretty clear,” he said. “There were a couple of characters that took a little longer to find. (Characters) Patricia came really quickly, Dennis came really quickly. Hedwig took a while. It wasn’t until the read-through for the script, which I was really nervous about.”
He added: “I’m sitting there thinking, ‘God, I have to play all 15 of these characters and be judged by everyone in the room, including the executives at Universal Studios, including Jason Blum, and I haven’t even found some of the characters yet. It just came together really quickly.'”
IndieWire has reached out to Phoenix representatives for comment.
And although Split is considered one of McAvoy’s most iconic roles, the film reinforces a pattern of Phoenix leaving projects.
Phoenix said in the press conference room at the 2024 Venice Film Festival while promoting the sequel to “Joker” that he would not comment on the Haynes film.
“When I do that, I’m just sharing my opinion from my perspective and the other creatives aren’t here to give their opinion,” Phoenix said, “and it just doesn’t feel like that’s right. I’m not sure how that could be helpful. I don’t think I’m going to do that.”
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