Joaquin Phoenix has broken his silence after dropping out of Todd Haynes’s film at the last minute.

In August, it was reported that the Oscar-winning actor had thrown production into chaos by dramatically quitting the filmmaker’s gay romance movie just days before the start of filming.

Phoenix was asked to explain what happened during the Venice Film Festival press conference for his new movie, Joker: Folie à Deux, on Wednesday and he declined to answer.

“I’ll 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,” he stated. “I’m not sure how that would be helpful. So, I don’t think I will.”

The 1930s-set drama was due to star Phoenix and Danny Ramirez as two men who fall in love and leave California for Mexico. Phoenix brought the idea to the Carol director and they developed the screenplay with Jon Raymond.

After his departure hit headlines, producer Christine Vachon confirmed on Facebook that “a version of this did happen” and “it has been a nightmare”.

Elsewhere during the press conference, the Walk the Line star refused to go into detail about how he achieved his character Arthur Fleck’s gaunt appearance for the sequel. He noted that he “fell into a trap” and made “a big deal” out of losing 52 pounds (23.5 kg) for 2019’s Joker and didn’t want to repeat the mistake.

“I’m not going to talk through specifics of the diet, but this time it felt a bit more complicated just because there was so much dance rehearsal that we were doing, which I didn’t have last time,” Phoenix said. “But it is safe. But yeah, I’m now 49, I probably shouldn’t do this again. That’s probably it for me.”

Joker: Folie à Deux will have its world premiere on Wednesday night. It is competing for the Golden Lion for best film.

© Cover Media