A renowned film director with notable contributions to Hollywood including “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Big Little Lies” and many others; Jean-Marc Vallée died this Sunday near Quebec City, Canada. He was 58 years old and died in his cabin suddenly according to the publicist for his company.
He is known for his realistic approach to filmmaking and has worked with several A-listers of the industry including Jake Gyllenhaal, Nicole Kidman, and Reese Witherspoon among others.
Nathan Ross was a partner in his company, Crazyrose, who issued a statement on the sad demise of Vallée and said: “He was a friend, creative partner, and an older brother to me.” While expressing his shock over the incident Ross added “The maestro will sorely be missed but it comforts knowing his beautiful style and impactful work he shared with the world will live on.”
The Emmy winner director Jean-Marc Vallée has started his career by working on Canadian short stories and music videos before finally getting a chance to demonstrate his directorial skills via a French film “Liste Noire,” which is also very commonly recognized by its English-language title “Black List.”
However, the film that proved to be the turning point in his career in Hollywood was the 2013 “Dallas Buyers Club.” The film was based on a true story of a patient who contracted AIDS and went to become a distributor of various experimental treatments. This file was nothing short of a masterpiece but unfortunately, the direction of Vallée was not recognized by the Academy. However, it’s worth noting that the film was nominated for Best Picture whereas the lead characters of the movie went on to win Oscars for their performances including Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey.
After the success of “Dallas Buyers Club,” Vallée became one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood.
Recently in 2017, he entered television production with “Big Little Lies.” He was roped in by HBO as an executive producer for this series. He took the directorial responsibilities on himself for the first series and managed to win an Emmy for that. As an executive producer, Vallée also produced “Sharp Objects” for HBO while directing every episode of the series.
According to Deadline, Vallée and Ross also signed another huge deal with HBO this April and fans had huge expectations from it. This was because Vallée had always been very careful in selecting the projects. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he mentioned that he always takes into account his lifestyle before selecting any project. “Are you going to be happy waking up in the morning, doing this and serving it?” said Vallée.
