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| Jean-Marc Vallée, a filmmaker, in 2015. His film "Dallas Buyers Club" was nominated for three Academy Awards. |
Jean-Marc Vallée, the award-winning Canadian filmmaker of "Dallas Buyers Club" and the smash HBO series "Big Little Lies," was discovered dead at his cottage outside of Quebec City this weekend. He was 58 years old at the time.
Bumble Ward, his publicist, said his death was unexpected. According to Lt. Benoit Richard, a spokesman for the Sûreté du Québec Police Department, Mr. Vallée was discovered on Sunday by friends who were coming to pay him a visit. The reason for the incident and more information were not immediately accessible.
Mr. Vallée was recognized for his genuine and charitable approach to filming, which associates claimed brought out the best in individuals with whom he collaborated. He shied away from stage lighting and even rehearsals. Mr. Vallée was also noted for directing a number of films and television shows featuring strong female protagonists.
"Liste Noire" ("Black List"), a 1995 thriller about a judge's trial, was nominated for five Genie Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Academy Awards, including best picture. He directed and co-wrote "C.R.A.Z.Y.," a coming-of-age picture, ten years later, and its popularity helped propel him to Hollywood.
Mr. Vallée directed "The Young Victoria," a film starring Emily Blunt about Queen Victoria's early years, in 2009. Several significant prizes and nominations were given to the film.
He was best known for the critically acclaimed drama "Dallas Buyers Club" (2013), which was based on the true story of Ron Woodroof, a Texas electrician and rodeo rider who, after being diagnosed with H.I.V. in 1985, fought to get medication (which was illegal in the United States at the time) for himself and others infected with the virus.
Mr. Woodroof's actor Matthew McConaughey said he lost 50 pounds by eating just vegetables, egg whites, salmon, and tapioca pudding — and "as much wine as I wanted to drink." Mr. McConaughey was nominated for six Oscars, and he won three of them, including best actor and best supporting actor for Jared Leto.
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| In a scene from "Dallas Buyers Club," Mr. Vallée, standing, directs Jared Leto, middle. |
In a recent Vanity Fair story derived from the book "Never Silent: ACT UP and My Life in Activism," activist Peter Staley detailed his protracted fight to ensure that homophobia and AIDS denial were not included in the film. Mr. Vallée "went through hell and back," he wrote, but the filmmaker "kept the promise he'd previously emailed me: that in all his films, he attempts to 'capture humanity and uncover the beauty beneath it.'"
The next year, Mr. Vallée directed "Wild," a real story starring Reese Witherspoon as author Cheryl Strayed on a solo journey along the Pacific Crest Trail. Several major accolades were also nominated for that picture, including an Oscar nomination for best actress.
"Big Little Lies" received a number of Emmy nominations as well as a Directors Guild of America award. It starred Ms. Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Zoe Kravitz, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley, and Meryl Streep and was set in the rich coastal town of Monterey, California.
Mr. Vallée went on to helm the HBO miniseries "Sharp Objects," which starred Amy Adams as a disturbed reporter and was set in small-town Missouri. It received eight Emmy nominations.
"It's true that my most recent productions have primarily featured female protagonists," Mr. Vallée stated in an HBO interview in 2018. "So, am I the fortunate one?" Perhaps I am – perhaps I am. I'm not frightened of tough, intellectual ladies. You must establish an environment in which people will feel appreciated and at ease."
"In order to capture something that seems true and honest," he continued, "we pushed the edge." "Sharp Objects" was made without storyboards, shot plans, or reflectors because he wished to let the performers speak for themselves.
"I'm reacting to what they're doing rather than being proactive and telling them, 'This is what I'm going to do with the camera,'" he explained, adding, "I love it." I'm like a kid on a set, playing with a gigantic toy and having a good time."
Mr. Vallée was born in Montreal on March 9, 1963. He attended the Collège Ahuntsic and the University of Quebec in Montreal to study filmmaking. Alex Vallée and Emile Vallée, as well as his siblings Marie-Josée Vallée, Stéphane Tousignant, and Gérald Vallée, survive him.
Mr. Vallée's producing partner and close friend Nathan Ross, in a statement, called him a "genuine artist" who stood for "creativity, sincerity, and attempting things differently," and added, "It comforts me knowing his beautiful style and powerful work he shared with the world will continue on."
Mr. Vallée was supposed to direct and executive produce a limited series for HBO called "Gorilla and the Bird," based on a memoir of the same name about a public defender who has a mental break.
Mr. Vallée defined his work as an attempt to show the faults and imperfection in human nature in an interview with The New York Times in 2018.
"It appears that I'm drawn to these stories and underdog personalities," he remarked. "The humanity, the wonderful humanity, is dark," he continued.