News Analysis India

Tag: Big Little Lies

  • Jean-Marc Vallee, director of ‘Big Little Lies’ and ‘Dallas Buyers Club’, dies at 58 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Jean-Marc Vallee, best known for directing films such as “Dallas Buyers Club” and “Wild”, along with the HBO series “Big Little Lies”, has passed away at the age of 58.

    Vallee’s longtime producing partner Nathan Ross confirmed his passing in a statement with The Hollywood Reporter.

    The filmmaker died suddenly over the weekend in his cabin near Quebec City, Canada, and the cause of death was not immediately disclosed.

    “Jean-Marc stood for creativity, authenticity and trying things differently. He was a true artist and a generous, loving guy. Everyone who worked with him couldn’t help but see the talent and vision he possessed. He was a friend, creative partner and an older brother to me. The maestro will sorely be missed but it comforts knowing his beautiful style and impactful work he shared with the world will live on,” Ross said in the statement.

    Vallee was born in Montreal, Quebec and forayed into showbiz directing through music videos.

    He made his feature directorial debut with the 1995 thriller “Black List”, which earned nine nominations for Canada’s Genie Awards, while his 2005 coming-of-age movie “C.R.A.Z.Y.” won 11 Genies.

    His 2009 film “The Young Victoria”, starring Emily Blunt as British monarch Queen Victoria, earned three Academy Award nominations including a win for best costume design.

    But it was the 2013 film “Dallas Buyers Club” that shot Vallee to prominence: it picked up six Oscar nods, including best picture and won Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto the trophies in best actor and best supporting actor categories.

    The film was a fact-based story of Ron Woodroof, who sold experimental drugs to AIDS patients.

    He followed with “Wild,” which starred Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern.

    The film, an adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, was nominated for three Oscars.

    Vallee reunited with Witherspoon and Dern in the critically acclaimed HBO series “Big Little Lies” (2017), penned by David E Kelley based on Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name.

    Vallee directed and executive produced the show, which earned him an Emmy in direction on the highly lauded first season which also starred Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, and Alexander Skarsgard, among other A-listers.

    He also directed and executive produced the 2018 limited series “Sharp Objects”, another project with HBO.

    Starring Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson, the show was nominated for eight Emmys.

    In a statement, HBO described Vallee as a brilliant, fiercely dedicated filmmaker, a truly phenomenal talent who infused every scene with a deeply visceral, emotional truth.

    “He was also a hugely caring man who invested his whole self alongside every actor he directed.

    We are shocked at the news of his sudden death, and we extend our heartfelt sympathies to his sons, Alex and Emile, his extended family, and his longtime producing partner, Nathan Ross,” the statement from the premium television network read.

    Besides sons Alex and Emile, Vallee is survived by siblings Marie-Josee Vallee, Stephane Tousignant and Gerald Vallee. 

  • It’s been a door opener: Nicole Kidman on life coming ‘full circle’ with ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: As someone who started her acting career with the miniseries format, Hollywood star Nicole Kidman says she is amazed to see her career do a full-circle thanks to the popularity of her recent limited shows such as “Big Little Lies”, “The Undoing” and now “Nine Perfect Strangers”.

    The Oscar winner says it has been exciting to work on the small screen which has allowed her more screen time to explore her characters.

    “I’m amazed because, strangely enough, I started off in Australia, doing a couple of films but then I did a thing, which was very well known at the time as miniseries.

    One of them was called ‘Vietnam’ and the other one was called ‘The Bangkok Hilton’.

    “So to have come full circle…And now we are doing an enormous amount of work in limited series. This is fascinating to me. It is a fascinating medium to work as an actor because you get so much more screen time to explore a character,” Kidman said in response to a question from PTI during a roundtable with international journalists.

    One of the most well-known faces in Hollywood movies, Kidman has been a part of some of the most popular as well as critically-acclaimed films such as “The Hours”, “Eyes Wide Shut”, “Moulin Rouge!”, “Dogville”, “Cold Mountain”, “Bewitched”, “Lion”, “Beguiled”, “Aquaman” and “Bombshell”.

    But in recent years, the 54-year-old Australian actor has wowed her fans with her turns as Celeste Wright, a retired lawyer and mother whose seemingly picture-perfect life slowly unravels in “Big Little Lies”.

    She followed it up with an equally impressive turn in “The Undoing” as Grace Fraser, a highly successful psychologist caught in her husband’s web of lies.

    Kidman said the success of the format has been a “door opener” for her.

    “Right now as we know, there just isn’t the voracious appetite for film as there is for television. So to have that opportunity to work on even though it’s the smaller screen but still bring that cinematic language, and hopefully storytelling to the smaller screen, that’s exciting. And it’s been a door opener for me, actually,” she said.

    Kidman executive produced “Big Little Lies” and “The Undoing”, both HBO shows, where she collaborated with creator David E Kelley.

    Her upcoming show “Nine Perfect Strangers” reunites Kidman, Kelley and “Big Little Lies” novelist Liane Moriarty.

    The eight-part series, which will exclusively premiere on Amazon Prime Video on August 20 worldwide except for the US and China, has a stellar ensemble cast in Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Boone, Bobby Cannavale, Luke Evans, Michael Shannon, Regina Hall, Manny Jacinto, Melvin Gregg, Samara Weaving and Asher Keddie.

    Kidman plays the mysterious director of a boutique health and wellness resort that promises healing and transformation and hosts nine stressed city dwellers trying to get on a path to a better way of living.

    The actor said the show gave her the chance to explore some of the big philosophical and existential questions as these characters seek reinvention and healing.

    “…those things are really interesting to me. And when you see all eight episodes, I think they’re quite deep philosophical questions, which I know David E Kelly is very interested in,” she added.