Keep Gay Hope Alive

A lot of people got dicked over by Joaquin Phoenix's sudden exit a couple of days before shooting from Todd Haynes next-film-to-be, but I felt especially bad for actor Danny Ramirez who was set to play the lead opposite Phoenix in the gay romance -- this could've proved a huge break for the Top Gun Maverick actor, probably akin to what May December did for Charles Melton. That shit's gotta sting  for an actor -- there are only so many chances like this that spring up in one's career, if any. Anyway Variety spoke to Ramirez today and got a few quotes from him on the debacle and he keeps it respectful but yeah, obviously he's disappointed. The choice bit though is he does not say the movie is as totally 100% dead as producer Christine Vachon has been maintaining -- when asked about the movie's chances he said, "The most recent update is ‘hopefully.'" Obviously that could be Haynes & Co, or his agent and people even, being nice to Ramirez and trying to not break his heart all at once, but let's just all choose "hopefully" today and keep the hope alive. I know Joaquin (inxplicably) brings funding but there are surely other big names who'd want to work with Todd f'ing Haynes!