When Joaquin Phoenix abruptly exited Todd Haynes’ gay romance movie last week, just five days before production, the actor set off a tidal wave that has now rippled far past the confines of its Guadalajara, Mexico set.

“There’s been a huge amount of outrage,” says one studio exec of the reaction from Hollywood producers to Phoenix’s last-minute departure, which left cast and crew in a lurch, and now opens the actor up to the possibility of legal action, according to sources.

The departure was particularly surprising, given that Phoenix first brought the project to Haynes and his longtime producers at Killer Films, headed by Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler.

The untitled film, also starring Captain America: Brave New World’s Danny Ramirez, was said to focus on an intense gay romance in the 1930s. According to multiple sources, Phoenix got cold feet in the leadup to the production, though the reasons remain murky. A rep for Phoenix did not respond to a request for comment. Killer Films declined to comment.

The actor is indeed known to get cold feet ahead of filming on various projects. Two sources tell THR that he threatened to leave Ridley Scott’s Napoleon unless his The Master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson was brought in to do rewrites. Placated, he stayed aboard the project, and it arrived in theaters late last year.

As Phoenix once told 60 Minutes’ Anderson Cooper, he’s usually “petrified” when he takes on a role and that before he shoots, he’s “nervous” that he won’t be able to “find the right kind of place to express” his ideas.

In recent days, the drumbeat has gotten louder among the producing community for legal action to be brought against Phoenix, with insiders pointing to examples throughout Hollywood history of actors being held accountable for leaving films without a star.

In 1993, a court found that Kim Basinger breached a verbal contract to star in the Main Line Pictures film Boxing Helena, with Basinger ordered to pay the company at least $8.92 million in damages. That ruling was overturned the next year, with Basinger eventually settling with Main Line in 1995, agreeing to pay $3.8 million. 

Others have cited Bruce Willis dropping out of a never-finished Disney film Broadway Brawler mid-production, after which had to do three Disney movies — at below his market rate — as a make good. (That situation worked out in everyone’s favor when two of those films ended up being hits Armageddon and Sixth Sense.)

The controversy comes as Phoenix prepares to take The Joker: Folie à Deux to Venice and likely to other festivals as well. The Haynes movie drama could cast a pall over the press tour, though Phoenix historically does very little solo press, even for his splashy roles, and tends to wait until later in awards season when he does.

On Joker, he and Warners declined most major requests, and the film’s Los Angeles premiere featured no red carpet interviews from anyone, as Joker faced its own controversy over fears that the film would inspire violence. The film ended up being a $1 billion hit, and won Phoenix the Oscar.

Indeed, the actor’s reticent attitude and squirmy reputation have not seemed to hurt his Oscar chances and sometimes has even seemed to help him with voters. Phoenix’s elaborate hoax that he was becoming a rapper — derided by many when he undertook it in 2010 — did not stop him from getting nominated for best actor for The Master two years later.

Still, festivals do entail red carpets and press conferences, and Phoenix’s presence at any of them could provide a distraction, for both fans and media, so close to his decision to leave the Haynes film.

According to sources, some producers have idly talked about blackballing Phoenix over the Haynes departure, but most acknowledge that’s not realistic, particularly given that Joker 2, out Oct. 4, is expected to be a hit.

One agent unconnected to the Haynes movies believes that ultimately, Phoenix will not face significant career blowback. And this person predicts the actor will settle for the low-seven figures the production spent on the movie, citing his big paydays for his Joker films as the actor having plenty of cash to deal with this situation. “As long as they threaten, he’ll settle. It’s nothing to him,” says the agent.

—Steven Zeitchik contributed to this story.