Jean-Marc Vallée: Director of “Dallas Buyers Club” has died

Canada
“Dallas Buyers Club” director Jean-Marc Vallée has died at the age of 58

The director and producer Jean-Marc Vallée is dead. According to his spokeswoman Bumble Ward, he died suddenly at the weekend in his cabin outside of Quebec City, Canada. The Canadian, who won an Emmy for directing the HBO hit series “Big Little Lies” and whose drama “Dallas Buyers Club” won several Academy Awards in 2013, turned 58.

“Still shocked by the news that Jean-Marc Vallée has died,” wrote Ward on Twitter. “What you may not know is that he was kind and nice, full of gratitude, thinking of birthdays and sending out great mixtapes, while at the same time being a creative genius. Rest in peace.”

Vallée was known for his naturalistic approach to filmmaking. For the past decade he had worked with stars like Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal. He directed The Young Victoria in 2009, starring Emily Blunt, and four years later, Dallas Buyers Club, starring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, which received six Academy Award nominations, including for the best movie, and it got a boost in popularity in Hollywood.

Jean-Marc Vallée wanted to tell stories

He often shot with natural light and handheld cameras, giving actors the freedom to improvise the script and move around the location of a scene, the Associated Press (AP) reports. “You can move where you want,” said the Canadian filmmaker in an AP interview in 2014 about his actors. “I value storytelling, emotions and characters. I try not to interfere too much […]. Often the cameraman and I would say, ‘This location sucks. He’s not very pretty. But, hey, that’s life. ‘”

In 2017 he worked again with Witherspoon to direct the first season of “Big Little Lies” and in 2018 he directed “Sharp Objects” (also for HBO) for Adams. Vallée received the DGA Award for both films.

Sources: Bumble Ward on Twitter, Associated Press, CBS News

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