Jean-Marc-Vallée, director of "Big Little Lies", is dead

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Jean-Marc Vallée (1963-2021)

Photo: Denis Beaumont / AP

Jean-Marc Vallée became a fixture in Hollywood with his drama "Dallas Buyers Club", which told of how an AIDS patient smuggled drugs from Mexico to the USA in the 1980s.

Matthew McConaughey won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2014, and Jared Leto was honored as Best Supporting Actor.

The Montreal-born Vallée has been celebrated as a director for strong character studies at the latest since this film, for which he himself was nominated for directing.

Again and again he challenged his actors and actresses with particularly sophisticated subjects.

In 2014, he and Reese Witherspoon directed the adventure drama »The Big Trip - Wild« about a young woman addicted to heroin who wants to overcome her addiction on a lonely hike through the wilderness in the western United States.

Witherspoon was then also on the HBO society series "Big Little Lies," for which Vallée assembled a large female ensemble.

In addition to Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Laura Dern were also in front of the camera.

Vallée was awarded an Emmy for the series.

He was most recently celebrated for his series "Sharp Objects", also shot for HBO.

The broadcaster HBO reacted "in shock to the news of his sudden death."

Vallée was a "brilliant, passionately devoted filmmaker," quoted the industry journal "The Hollywood Reporter" from a statement by the company.

Vallée died on Sunday in Quebéc, Canada.

He was 58 years old.

No information was given on the cause of death.

cbu / dpa