Joaquin Phoenix, Aaron Taylor-Johnson sought to join Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal in 'Nocturnal Animals'

With Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal signed on to star and George Clooney on board to produce, Tom Ford's A Single Man follow-up Nocturnal Animals quickly gained traction. Should recent reports be believed, however, it'll only get bigger from here.

The Hollywood Reporter slipped in the news that Joaquin Phoenix and Aaron Taylor-Johnson are sought to join the thriller in lead roles when they reported on Adams and Gyllenhaal's casting. There's no word at the moment who Phoenix and Taylor-Johnson would play if they joined, though.

Nocturnal Animals, first announced last month, tells the story of Susan (Adams) who receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband asking for her opinion, even though she left him 20 years ago. From there, the story follows her story and her ex-husband's book's, titled Nocturnal Animals, which tells the story of a man whose family vacation becomes deadly. One would have to assume this second story is where Phoenix and Taylor-Johnson's roles come into play, should Gyllenhaal be cast as Adams' character's former partner.

Ford's first film since his 2009 Academy Award-nominated debut, Nocturnal Animals is under Clooney's Smokehouse Productions but has no studio secured at the moment. The project still needs packaged at the moment. Ford's plans, as of last month, were to shoot for six weeks between Sept. 15 and December when he has a window in his fashion schedule.

As none of the actors appeared in A Single Man, Nocturnal Animals is the first time any of the leads worked with Ford. Although Gyllenhaal and Adams once were set to star together in Philip Seymour Hoffman's Ezekiel Moss last year before his untimely passing.

Phoenix next stars in Woody Allen's Irrational Man sometime this year. Taylor-Johnson, meanwhile, gears up on May 1 to join Avengers: Age of Ultron as Quicksilver.

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