Director Todd Haynes’ De Noche is back on track with actor Pedro Pascal set to headline the project opposite Danny Ramirez. The gay romance film had stalled last year following Joaquin Phoenix’s exit.
Shooting is scheduled to begin next month, as per US media reports.
Pascal will play a hard-boiled detective, while Ramirez will portray his younger lover. French independent banner MK2 Films is financing the project with Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler of Killer Films as producers.
Haynes has co-written the screenplay with longtime collaborator Jon Raymond. Set in 1930s Los Angeles, the story draws from classic noir traditions and follows a police officer and a boarding school teacher who fall in love as the city is engulfed by corruption and the world edges toward war. The two men become targets of a corrupt political system and are forced to flee to Mexico.
The film marks Pascal’s first collaboration with Haynes. The actor has recently balanced large studio projects, including Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, with independent films such as A24’s Materialists and Eddington.
Haynes, whose previous film May December received an Academy Award nomination for best screenplay, told Variety: “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”.
“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,” he added.
“Few filmmakers connect with audiences as strongly as Todd Haynes,” MK2 Films managing director Fionnuala Jamison said.
Paloma Negra Films and MK2 are also producing with Jonathan Montepare and Steven Demmler, in association with Cinetic Media. IPR.VC is financing the film as part of its long-term partnership with MK2, along with Yggdrasil, Léger Production, Mid March, Pluto and Leaf Entertainment.