By Ryan Pearson, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Director and producer Jean-Marc Vallée, who won an Emmy for directing the hit HBO series "Big Little Lies" and whose 2013 drama "Dallas Buyers Club" earned multiple Oscar nominations, has died. He was 58.
Vallée died suddenly in his cabin outside Quebec City, Canada, over the weekend, his representative Bumble Ward said Sunday.
Vallée was acclaimed for his naturalistic approach to filmmaking, directing stars including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal over the past decade.
He directed Emily Blunt in 2009's "The Young Victoria" and became a sought-after name in Hollywood after "Dallas Buyers Club," featuring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, earned six Academy Awards nominations, including best picture. The film won three Oscars–for lead actor (McConaughey), supporting actor (Leto) and makeup & hairstyling.
"With a gentle hand and heart Jean-Marc was a true receiver — he didn't romanticize life so much as he saw life romantic — from the struggle to the pain to the wink and the whisper, love stories were everywhere in his eye," tweeted McConaughey, one of several stars paying tribute to Vallée on Monday.
Vallée often shot with natural light and hand-held cameras, giving actors freedom to improvise from the script and move around within a scene's location. The crew roamed up and down the Pacific Coast Trail to shoot Witherspoon in 2014's "Wild." Witherspoon earned a best leading actress Oscar nomination for her performance.
"They can move anywhere they want," the Canadian filmmaker said of his actors in a 2014 interview with The Associated Press. "It's giving the importance to storytelling, emotion, characters. I try not to interfere too much. I don't need to cut performances. Often, the cinematographer and I were like, 'This location sucks. It's not very nice. But, hey, that's life.'"
He re-teamed with Witherspoon to direct the first season of "Big Little Lies" in 2017, and directed Adams in 2018's "Sharp Objects," also for HBO. Vallée won DGA awards for both.
"I will always remember you as the sun goes down," Witherspoon wrote on Instagram along with a series of photos of the director. "Chasing the light. On a mountain in Oregon. On a beach in Monterey. Making sure we all caught a little magic in this lifetime. I love you, Jean Marc. Until we meet again."
Her "Big Little Lies" co-star Laura Dern on Instagram called Vallée a "beloved friend" who was "one of our great and purest artists and dreamers."
Leto said on Twitter that he was "a filmmaking force and a true artist who changed my life."
And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that "Jean-Marc Vallée's passion for filmmaking and storytelling was unmatched — so too was his talent. Through his work and with his art, he left a mark in Quebec, across Canada, and around the world."
Associated Press Writers Jake Coyle and Andrew Dalton contributed to this report.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More