As if Hollywood needed more reasons to love the Pedro Pascal, it seems the Chilean-born actor is now stepping in to save director Todd Haynes's new gay romance, De Noche.The Last of Us star is eyeing joining the cast of Haynes's upcoming film, which seemed to be dead in the water just days ago, according to Deadline. Production for De Noche was shut down last year when Joaquin Phoenix, who had signed on to star, abruptly left the project just days before filming was set to begin. But according to reports, there are now plans to resume filming in the New Year in Guadalajara, Mexico, and the filmmakers are willing to work around Pascal's busy schedule to make it happen.De Noche was originally meant to star Oscar-winner Phoenix who had initially brought the idea to Haynes sometime around 2023 opposite a still-attached Danny Ramirez. Although details have been vague since the project was first announced, the film has been described as a love story between two men who leave Los Angeles for Mexico in the 1930s. There were also suggestions from Haynes that the film would be sexually explicit enough to warrant an NC-17 rating. Phoenix, Haynes, and Jon Raymond collaborated on the story.Given Phoenix's involvement in getting the project off the ground and striking an early deal with international distributors his exit from the film last August caused plenty of speculation. According to Variety, the actor backed out due to "cold feet," despite the amount of work that had already gone into the project. "Phoenix had developed the screenplay for the detective love story with Haynes and Jon Raymond," the publication noted. "Entire sets had been built in Guadalajara before Phoenix made the last-minute decision to exit the film."But when asked about leaving the film while doing press for Joker: Folie Deux at last year's Venice Film Festival, Phoenix declined to comment."Um I think if I do I would just be sharing my opinion from my perspective, and the other creatives aren't here to say their piece and that just doesn't feel like that would be right, not sure how that would be helpful, so, I just don't think I will. Yeah. Thank you," he said.Later, Haynes's longtime collaborator Christine Vachon of Killer Films, which is producing De Noche, addressed the controversy directly."The truth is, pretty much what happened is out there for all of you to see. If I had anything to gossip about it, I would, but I don't," Vachon said during her keynote speech at the San Sebastian Film Festival's Creative Investors' Conference. "It was tragic. The most tragic part about it, in my mind, is Todd Haynes is 62. There's a finite number of films that they'll be able to do in his lifetime. I consider him one of the most extraordinary film artists of his generation.""The idea that his time was wasted and that a movie is not a result of those years of working closely with Joaquin, that is the tragedy to me and that I can't get over," she continued. "We, as a cultural community, lost an opportunity to have another movie by Todd Haynes. That is just criminal."Pascal is nominated for his second Emmy this year for playing the role of Joel in HBO's The Last of Us.