Canadian director, producer Jean-Marc Vallée dead at 58

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Director and producer Jean-Marc Vallée, who won an Emmy for directing the hit HBO series “Big Little Lies” and whose 2013 drama “Dallas Buyers Club” earned multiple Oscar nominations, has died. He was 58.

His representative Bumble Ward said Sunday that Vallée died suddenly in his cabin outside Quebec City, Canada, over the weekend.

Vallée was acclaimed for his naturalistic approach to filmmaking, directing stars including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal over the past decade.

He directed Emily Blunt in 2009′s “The Young Victoria” and became a sought-after name in Hollywood after “Dallas Buyers Club,” featuring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, earned six Academy Awards nominations, including best picture.

Even if you’ve never heard of Jean-Marc Vallee, you’ve almost certainly seen his TV directing work on “Big Little Lies” & “Sharp Objects” or his movies like “Dallas Buyers Club” & “Wild.”

He had such a unique visual and narrative style. Such an immense talent gone too soon. RIP pic.twitter.com/gQhEYCeT4k

— Josh Axelrod (@jaxelburgh) December 27, 2021

He often shot with natural light and hand-held cameras and gave actors freedom to improvise the script and move around within a scene’s location. The crew roamed up and down the Pacific Coast Trail to shoot Witherspoon in 2014′s “Wild.”

“They can move anywhere they want,” the Canadian filmmaker said of his actors in a 2014 interview with The Associated Press. “It’s giving the importance to storytelling, emotion, characters. I try not to interfere too much. I don’t need to cut performances. Often, the cinematographer and I were like, ‘This location sucks. It’s not very nice. But, hey, that’s life.’”

He re-teamed with Witherspoon to direct the first season of “Big Little Lies” in 2017 and directed Adams in 2018′s “Sharp Objects,” also for HBO. Vallée won DGA awards for both.

Tributes are now pouring in online from fellow actors and colleagues.

“He was a profoundly gifted artist whose passions and efforts have advanced the medium of cinema.” tweeted Canadian actor Jay Baruchel.

https://twitter.com/BaruchelNDG/status/1475460593188442113?s=20

The social media account for the Toronto International Film Festival tweeted their condolences, saying Vallee was the only person in TIFF history that had a movie open and close the festival.

Remembering celebrated Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée — the only director to both open (DEMOLITION) and close (THE YOUNG VICTORIA) the Toronto International Film Festival. pic.twitter.com/hWZvAZtCqP

— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) December 27, 2021