Jean-Marc Vallée (1963-2021)
Monday, December 27, 2021 at 2:30PM by Nathaniel R
We are shocked and saddened to report that Oscar-nominated and Emmy winning director Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club, Big Little Lies), who was only 58, died yesterday at his cabin outside Quebec City. No cause of death has been revealed.
The Quebecois filmmaker began making movies in the 1990s but first came to international fame wih the queer coming of age drama C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005) which was submitted to represent Canada at the Oscars that year...
with his star Marc-André Grondin for C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)
If you've never seen that movie, it's definitely worth seeking out. Though it wasn't nominated, Vallée amassed fans in Hollywood and within a few years he made the leap to English language projects with the costume drama Young Victoria (2009)...
He followed that up with the AIDS drama Dallas Buyers Club (2013) which was a big hit with Oscar. He made a far superior film just a year later wih the Reese Witherspoon led adaptation of the bestseller Wild (2014) though awards bodies were strangely silent about it beyond its actresses. But his biggest succcess to date was on the small screen with the extremely buzzy miniseries Big Little Lies (2017) which swept the Emmys and then inspired a second perhaps redundant but widely watched season. But by that time he'd already moved on, to make the miniseries Sharp Objects (2018).
Amy Adams and Eliza Scanlen in "Sharp Objects"
We will miss his fascinating way of blurring past and present in a characters interior life via lyrical editing flourishes. It arguably began to feel like a tic by the time of Sharp Objects but it made for breathless transcendent drama at times.
We'll miss his allyship with the queer community, making queer auto-fiction with C.R.A.Z.Y. even though he was heterosexual and posing for an anti-homophobia photo series with fellow Canadian auteur Denis Villeneuve.
Most of all we'll miss his incredible rapport with actresses, pulling career best dramatic work from Reese Witherspoon twice over (Wild and Big Little Lies), gifting Nicole Kidman one of her richest roles and most surprising mainstream successes (Big Little Lies), offering us three generations of feminine trauma with Patty Clarkson, Amy Adams and Eliza Scanlen (Sharp Objects), not to mention contributing immensely to Laura Dern's Oscar momentum with a long awaited second Oscar nomination (Wild) followed by a Emmy-winning meme-ready standout role (Big Little Lies).
We're greatly saddened. We thought he'd have a dozen more sure-to-be moving projects, a mix of films and miniseries, in him. Our hearts go out to his loved ones who are said to be in shock at his sudden death.
Big Little Lies, CRAZY, Dallas Buyers Club, Directors, Jean-Marc Vallée, RIP, Wild
Reader Comments (6)
Very sad news. I rewatched Wild recently and it was better than I remembered. Very moving. I know I will watch it again someday.
(I thought he was gay)
I am shocked by this as he was a damn good filmmaker. I know there were people that didn't think highly of his last feature film in Demolition but I liked it a lot. Especially the scene where Jake Gyllenhaal and Judah Lewis destroying some shit while listening to music and having some fun.
This is very sad. I was shocked when I saw this headline online. He was extremely talented, and I assumed he would one day have a big Oscar moment (not that that’s what this is all about, but still…I was looking forward to him being even more celebrated).
RIP! To one of the best directors w actresses.
This is horrendous news. The last episode of Big Little Lies Season 1 is some of the best filmmaking I have ever seen.
Sharp Objects need more praise. It is arguably better than Big Little Lies.
Two masterpieces in TV making. RIP JEAN MARC
This is terrible and heart-breaking. I let out an audible gasp when I saw this headline :(
I know many people saw his editing style as an affectation, understandably, but I really dug the way he put together his images AND sound (not enough attention is paid to the incredible sound montage in his films & series). Both Wild and Sharp Objects are among my fav productions of the previous decade.
Canadian filmmakers who cross over to major Hollywood success are surprisingly rare, and I was really looking forward to whatever he may have had in store next. RIP