Did Joaquin Phoenix leave 'Split'? What James McAvoy said

At least he is consistent? Joaquin Phoenix is ​​once again making headlines because he allegedly left a film at short notice. In a recent episode of Josh Horowitz' Happy Sad Confused Podcast, James McAvoy talked about his succession from Phoenix as the lead actor in M. Night Shyamalan’s film ShareWe have known for some time that Phoenix abruptly left the project; The Guardian reported in 2017 that Phoenix dropped out “at the last minute.” But what does that really mean? “I think he canceled it two weeks before shooting was due to begin,” McAvoy told Horowitz. “It was really last minute. I had two weeks.” (Hey, it could have been worse – Phoenix reportedly canceled a gay romance film starring Todd Haynes just five days before it was scheduled to begin shooting this year.)

Share follows a man with dissociative identity disorder. Given the amount of time McAvoy had to prepare, he was understandably nervous before the first read test. “I'm sitting there thinking, 'God, I have to play all these 15 characters and be judged by everyone in the room, including the executives at Universal Studios, including Jason Blum and all that… and I haven't even found some of the characters yet,'” he recalls. “It just happened really, really quickly.” Still, McAvoy doesn't seem too disappointed with how things went. Noting that it can keep an actor from overthinking, he opined, “Sometimes it's best to jump in at the last minute.” Hmm… [in our best PR voice] Maybe Phoenix just wanted to help!