Death of Jean-Marc Vallée, director of “CRAZY”, “Big Little Lies” and “Dallas Buyers Club”, at the age of 58

His name appeared in the credits of the most impactful series of recent years. Jean-Marc Vallée, director of the dark Big Little Lies with Nicole Kidman and Sharp Objects with Amy Adams, was found dead this Sunday, December 26 in a cottage near Quebec City, Canada, US media report Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. The causes of the death of the 58-year-old Quebec filmmaker were not immediately communicated. His disappearance was confirmed by his longtime collaborator, producer Nathan Ross.

“Jean-Marc stood for creativity, authenticity and tried things differently. He was a true artist, a generous and loving man. All those who worked with him could only see the talent and the vision that he possessed “Nathan Ross wrote in a statement. “The maestro will be sorely missed but it is heartwarming to know that his magnificent style and hard-hitting work that he shared with the world will continue to live on.”, he continues. Born in 1963 in Montreal, Jean-Marc Vallée studied cinema at the University of Quebec before making his debut behind the camera for music videos.

His first feature film, Black List, came out in 1995. He struck a blow ten years later with the dramatic comedy made in Quebec CRAZY. A critically acclaimed revelation, which garners a record number of 11 Genie Awards – the Canadian Caesars. For his first English-language film at the cinema, he transforms Emily Blunt into the Queen of England in Victoria, the young years of a queen in 2009. Then he directs Vanessa Paradis in French in Café de Flore in 2011. Two years later, Jean-Marc Vallée is at the helm of the project which will put Matthew McConaughey back at the center of discussions in Hollywood.

In Dallas Buyers Club, the former darling of romantic comedies re-enacts the true story of Ron Woodroof, an HIV-positive electrician who bypasses the system to help AIDS patients get the drugs they need. Nominated six times for the Oscars, the film won three, including two for performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. Jean-Marc Vallée won him an Oscar nomination for best editing.

In 2017, he turned to the small screen and brilliantly adapted the work of Liane Moriarty with David E. Kelley. Supported by an exceptional cast, the mini-series Big Little Lies wins an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe. Reese Witherspoon, whom he has already staged in the film Wild, Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley and Zoe Kravitz woo audiences and critics alike as seemingly perfect mothers who find themselves embroiled in a murder case. Absent for season 2, Jean-Marc Vallée is realizing another flagship project for HBO adapted from a successful novel: Sharp Objects, with Amy Adams more terrifying than ever as a lost young woman who returns to the town of her childhood to investigate a series of disappearances.

“Shocked by the news of this sudden death”, the HBO channel praised at Jean-Marc Vallée “a truly phenomenal talent who infused every scene with a sensitive and deeply visceral truth”. Father of two sons, he signed a long-term agreement in the spring to develop projects with the channel and its HBO Max platform.