Lynne Ramsay Sets Joaquin Phoenix Reunion with ‘Polaris,’ Also Starring Rooney Mara

Lynne Ramsay has her sights set on a reunion with her “You Were Never Really Here” star Joaquin Phoenix. During a visit to the Valencia International Film Festival (a.k.a. Cinema Jove), where she was presented with the Luna de Valencia Award, Ramsay revealed Phoenix will lead one of her upcoming new movies. Details on the project remain scarce, although El Espanol (via The Film Stage) reports the movie is to be titled “Polaris” and Rooney Mara is attached to co-star.

“He’s crazy, but he’s the best actor I’ve ever met. Everything he does on the set has a reason,” Ramsay said at the festival. “It’s much more difficult when you come up with an original idea like this, but it’s impossible not to get excited when you’re preparing a movie with Joaquin.”

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Ramsay and Phoenix earned great acclaim with “You Were Never Really Here,” which premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and won Phoenix the Best Actor prize. Ramsay was also awarded the Best Screenplay prize at Cannes. “You Were Never Really Here” proved to be a career-changing project for Ramsay, who later told Esquire magazine that she “found [her] soulmate in making movies” with Phoenix.

“Neither of us are very verbal,” Phoenix told the magazine of his relationship with Ramsay. “We don’t like to intellectualize about the character. It was all in the doing…Lynne’s always chasing something, and that’s who you want to work with. Filmmakers who have a strong feeling and will pursue it to the end. And auteurs are ultimately responsible for the movie. Some movies, the producer, the studio, they’re all putting in their fucking bits and, you know — fuck that movie!”

“Polaris” is one of several Lynne Ramsay projects now in development. News broke last November that Ramsay, also known for “We Need to Talk About Kevin” and “Ratcatcher,” was set to helm the Stephen King adaptation “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.” The project carries an impressive horror pedigree, as the producers include Christine Romero, the former wife of the late George A. Romero, and “It” producer Roy Lee of Vertigo Films.

As for Phoenix and Mara, the two actors have appeared together in films such as Spike Jonze’s “Her,” Garth Davis’ “Mary Magdalene,” and Gus Van Sant’s “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot.” Upcoming projects for Phoenix include Mike Mills’ “C’mon C’mon,” Ari Aster’s “Disappointment Blvd.,” and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon epic “Kitbag.” Mara just joined the cast of Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking.”

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