GONE TOO SOON

‘Big Little Lies’ Director Jean-Marc Vallée Dead at 58

The Canadian filmmaker centered the lives of women and members of the LGBTQ community in his work.

Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée has passed away “suddenly” at the age of 58, according to reports. He “passed away at his cabin outside Quebec City, and his family and close advisors are in shock,” according to Deadline, which reported that the cause of death is not yet known.

The celebrated writer-director, who hailed from Montreal, began his career behind the camera helming music videos, before transitioning to shorts and then feature films. Much of Vallée’s work centered the stories of women and members of the LGBTQ community, such as his 2005 movie C.R.A.Z.Y., the story of a young gay man contending with homophobia in the ’60s and ’70s, and winner of 11 Genie Awards (the Canadian Oscar); the 2009 costume drama The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt as Queen Victoria; 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club, about the life of Ron Woodruff, a man with AIDS who began pushing experimental treatments with the help of a transgender AIDS patient, which earned Oscars for stars Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto as well as a Best Picture nomination; Wild, a 2015 drama featuring Reese Witherspoon as a woman who confronts her past while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail; and the Emmy-winning HBO drama Big Little Lies. He is survived by his two children, Alex and Émile.