Todd Haynes’ long-gestating queer noir De Noche is officially back in motion, and this time, it’s Pedro Pascal stepping into the trench coat.
After quietly stalling last year following Joaquin Phoenix’s abrupt exit just days before production, the period romance has resurfaced with Pascal attached to star opposite Danny Ramirez. Filming is slated to begin next month, marking a major revival for a project many assumed had slipped into Hollywood limbo.
Set against the shadows of 1930s Los Angeles, De Noche follows a hardened detective and a young boarding school teacher who fall into an intense, dangerous romance while the city buckles under corruption. As political rot closes in and global tensions rise, their relationship turns into a liability, forcing the pair to flee south in a bid for survival.
A Queer Love Story, Noir Style
Haynes, who co-wrote the screenplay with longtime collaborator Jon Raymond, has never shied away from genre storytelling. Here, the filmmaker taps into classic noir influences, think moral decay and looming paranoia, while centering a same-sex relationship rarely afforded such scope in period cinema.
Pascal’s character, a seasoned cop worn down by the system he serves, becomes entangled with Ramirez’s idealistic educator. Their bond is passionate but precarious, unfolding within a city engineered to crush anything that threatens its power structure. The result is less a conventional romance than a collision between intimacy and institutional control.
The film also reunites Haynes with the kind of thematic territory that defined earlier works like Carol and Far From Heaven, where desire exists in defiance of social punishment rather than comfort.
Pedro Pascal’s Indie Pivot Continues
For Pascal, De Noche represents another calculated step away from blockbuster spectacle. While he remains firmly planted in franchise territory, including Marvel’s upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps, his recent slate reflects a growing interest in director-driven storytelling.
The actor has steadily balanced mainstream visibility with riskier projects, and teaming up with Haynes signals a deliberate shift toward material rooted in character rather than scale. It also marks Pascal’s first collaboration with the director.
The Team Behind the Camera
French indie powerhouse MK2 Films is financing the project and overseeing international sales, while sharing domestic representation with Cinetic Media. Killer Films’ Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler are producing, continuing their long-running partnership with Haynes.
Additional producers include Paloma Negra Films alongside MK2, with Jonathan Montepare and Steven Demmler attached in association with Cinetic. Financing partners include IPR.VC, Yggdrasil, Léger Production, Mid March, Pluto, and Leaf Entertainment.
MK2 is expected to launch sales during the European Film Market in Berlin, where the company will also be present with Kornél Mundruczó’s At the Sea, starring Amy Adams.
A Timely Return
Haynes has described De Noche as emerging from an era defined by corruption, exploitation, and fear, themes that feel pointedly current. Yet the film ultimately positions love as an act of resistance, capable of surviving even when institutions are designed to erase it.
With production finally underway and a cast that brings both gravitas and star power, De Noche is no longer a cautionary tale about a film that nearly wasn’t. Instead, it’s shaping up to be one of Haynes’ most politically charged, and emotionally risky, works to date.
