A PEEK AT VALLÉE
HBO series gives Canadian director a TV outlet that’s ‘quite appealing’
Montreal may be considered Hollywood North by some, thanks to the steady influx of U.S. films still being shot there. Then again, Hollywood may soon be considered Montreal South, thanks to the steady influx of Montreal directors at the helm of big-budget studio films.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that directors like Jean-Marc Vallée, Denis Villeneuve, Philippe Falardeau and Xavier Dolan, among others, are now among the most sought-after talents in the U.S. For excellent reason, they’ve duly earned reputations as directors with whom actors love to work.
Vallée saw two of his charges, Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, nab acting Oscars in Dallas Buyers Club, and Reese Witherspoon received a nomination for Wild.
It’s a good bet that a few actors from Vallée’s latest project will also be up for honours. But this time, it will be on the Emmy front. Vallée has directed his first major TV production, the seven-part series Big Little Lies, which debuts on HBO Sunday and features a who’s who of the finest actors around: Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern.
They all sizzle in this smallscreen adaptation of the Liane Moriarty bestseller of the same name. Though the novel is set in Australia, the series finds a more than suitable home in tony Monterey, Calif., so seemingly quaint on the outside but so connivingly toxic on the inside.
At the core of this dark dramedy are a group of mothers, all of whom have kids entering the first grade of a posh school. But after reports surface that one child has been beaten by another, battle lines are drawn. Madeline (Witherspoon), an amateur theatre producer, comes to the aid of new mom in town Jane (Woodley), whose son is alleged to be tormenting the daughter of town diva Renata (Dern). Celeste (Kidman), a lawyer whom all assume to be leading the perfect existence, takes sides with Madeline and the mysterious Jane.
“Jane doesn’t fit in here — like a Prius in the parking lot,” laments one mom, perfectly summing up life among Monterey’s upper crust.
The husbands are all over the emotional map as well and have enough issues to keep the town’s Freudians busy for a lifetime.
Oh yeah, a murder occurs at the beginning of the series. But here’s the hitch: viewers won’t know the identities of either the murderer or the victim until the last episode.
Tough to pull off that kind of plot twist, but Vallée does. Apart from being an actor’s director, Vallée is also a masterful tale-spinner. With a taut teleplay by TV pioneer David E. Kelley, Vallée is able to sustain intrigue throughout this nail-biter of a series, while delving into the bizarro quirks of his characters. Viewers will be hooked.
Vallée has made movies all over the continent and beyond. But it’s safe to say Monterey is a world unto itself — certainly far removed from his native Montreal.
“I really enjoyed creating this world where Monterey becomes almost a character with the ocean,” Vallée, 53, says in a phone interview from Los Angeles. “The ocean is so angry.”
A perfect metaphor for some awfully angry people.
“Behind the image of perfection, where everyone wants and wants more and everyone seems happy, there are nuances,” Vallée says. “I found it fascinating observing highpowered women and the way they live.”
Vallée’s high-powered buddy Witherspoon turns in another draining performance under his watch.
“She’s on fire here again,” he says. “I’m the lucky one, being the first to witness what she’s doing as well as what Nicole, Laura and Shailene and the guys are doing.”
Vallée has made a career of connecting with women characters on screen.
“I don’t why that is,” says Vallée, who has also directed the films C.R.A.Z.Y., Café de Flore, The Young Victoria and Demolition. “They’ve seen the films I’ve done and they know I’m all about character and that I’m all about emotions. And this is what I’m aiming for when I’m on the set.
“I’m not trying to pull the camera on a dolly, to take crazy shots and to put style above character and emotions. I put character and emotions above everything else. I’m attracted to relationships and their flaws. That’s where I’m most comfortable.”
Big Little Lies is chock full of these elements. But the crime aspect of the series is virgin territory for Vallée.
“I’ve never tackled this kind of material. It’s not only a whodunit, not knowing who the murderer is, but also who the hell is dead?”
Vallée concedes this was a tough project, not just in terms of keeping events simmering before bringing them to the boiling point. “It was also tough from a duration point — 90 days of shooting.”
On the subject of challenges, Vallée had his hands full working with a half-dozen child actors.
“You should see my hair now,” he cracks. “I have less and what’s left is more grey than ever.”
No accident how Vallée came to this project: “It’s Reese! It’s her fault,” he jokes, his voice booming. “I was only supposed to do the first and second episodes, but we wanted to recreate the experience we had in Wild.
“Reese is always after material that features strong women characters. She is the producer (Big Little Lies) and got Nicole to be co-producer. I read the first two episodes and said I would do them, but I was already attached to another series, Sharp Objects, and I was going to do everything on that one.
“I didn’t want to do everything on Big Little Lies, but it just happened. (Reese) was asking again and again for me to direct (all the episodes), then I just did it.”
Although Vallée has suggested that it’s just coincidence, there must be something about him and other Quebecois directors that Witherspoon and her fellow actors find so appealing. Witherspoon starred in Falardeau’s The Good Lie, while Jake Gyllenhaal won acclaim in Vallée’s Demolition and Villeneuve’s Prisoners and Enemy.
And then there’s Amy Adams who lit up Villeneuve’s Arrival, and who’s the lead in Vallée’s coming HBO TV series Sharp Objects. Adams was also supposed to play the lead in a Janis Joplin biopic to be directed by Vallée, but the plug has been pulled on that one.
“It’s funny but I don’t think this is about nationality at all. For us Quebec directors, it’s really about us being able to work outside and to dream and to believe that anything is possible. It’s more about circumstance. It’s just a personal thing for these actors.
“I’m really not sure I understand women more than anybody else. It’s just a connection,” says Vallée, married and father of two children. “I’m not afraid of intelligent women. But I wouldn’t have directed this piece differently if I had five male actors.”
What Vallée finds most fascinating is how TV has become increasingly more an outlet for film players. Not too long ago, it would have been unthinkable to land the likes of Witherspoon, Kidman or Adams in a TV series — albeit a more loose HBO series — let alone to land an A-list director.
“That world is changing so fast and the line between TV and cinema is getting thinner and thinner,” Vallée notes. “HBO, Netflix and Amazon and others are opening the door for feature-film people to create and have fun in this medium. Not to say that Reese and the others or myself don’t have film projects, but HBO is allowing us to do what we’re used to doing and not to change our approach. And it’s quite appealing.”
It’s also very tiring. Overlapping projects can take their toll.
“I’ve been doing one after the other for the last five years, since Dallas Buyers Club and I’m exhausted,” he says, his voice rising. “After Sharp Objects and another American film (perhaps with Witherspoon), to follow, I’m taking a break where Hollywood won’t see me. No one will see me except for my close ones in Montreal.”
Nor will Vallée veer full-tilt Hollywood. He has plans to shoot two French features — the final part to a film series he shot in the late 1990s — in his hometown. “Maybe in about five years, after a good rest.”