Jean-Marc Vallée remembered as ‘a true artist and a generous and loving person’

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Tributes arrived on Monday from colleagues, collaborators, politicians and other heartbroken fans of Quebec director Jean-Marc Vallée, who was found dead Sunday by friends at his cabin in Berthier-sur-Mer, about 60 kilometers east of the city. from Quebec. The Montreal native was 58 years old.

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Media reports said that the Sureté du Québec was called to the hut in the Chaudière-Appalaches region around 2:30 pm, that the cause of death will be confirmed by an autopsy and that an investigation will be carried out. forensic, but that foul play is not suspected.

“We still don’t know exactly what happened, but it was a death from natural causes,” Vallée’s ex-wife, Chantal Cadieux, said in an interview Monday on a headline news channel.

Vallée will be remembered by many for his painfully beautiful, semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film CRAZY, set in Quebec during the Silent Revolution. The 2005 film took home nearly a dozen Genie Awards and 13 Jutra Awards.

Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, one of several politicians who expressed condolences on social media on Monday, called Vallée “a Quebec film giant.” CRAZY, he tweeted, “will continue to be one of the best works in our national repertoire.”

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Vallée’s 2009 film The Young Victoria, which had Martin Scorsese as one of its producers, starring Emily Blunt and explored the early years of Queen Victoria’s rule, won a variety of awards. But it was the 2013 AIDS drama Dallas Buyers Club, which received widespread critical acclaim, six Oscar nominations and three statuettes, that gave Vallée star power in Hollywood.

I would make more movies and then move to the small screen. He directed the drama series Big Little Lies, which began in 2017 and stars Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, and Reese Witherspoon; won eight Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries and Outstanding Miniseries.

Vallée had worked with Witherspoon and Dern on the 2014 film Wild, an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by American writer Cheryl Strayed. On Monday Witherspoon, Dern and Kidman took to social media to express their shock and sadness over his death.

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“The world has lost one of our greatest and purest artists and dreamers,” Dern posted on Instagram. And we lost our dear friend. Our hearts are broken. “

Actor Jay Baruchel tweeted that Vallée had always been nice to him. “He was a deeply talented artist whose passions and endeavors have advanced the medium of film and left behind treasures of sincerity.”

Vallée was known for his naturalistic approach to filmmaking (sometimes he even avoided rehearsals) and frequently used natural light and handheld cameras.

Telefilm Canada called him “an empathetic and generous visionary on television and film” and said that “his work inspired the way we tell stories in Canada and around the world.”

“Jean-Marc Vallée’s passion for film and storytelling was unmatched,” tweeted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “So was his talent.”

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Vallée production partner Nathan Ross said in a statement that “Jean-Marc was a creative and authentic person who tried to do things differently. He was a true artist and a caring and generous person. Everyone who worked with him could see his talent and vision. He was a friend, a creative partner, and an older brother to me. “

Vallée will be sorely missed, Ross said, “but it’s comforting to know that his wonderful style and deeply personal body of work that he shared with the world will survive.”

Montreal Gazette reporter Brendan Kelly met Vallée around the time his award-winning 1995 short Les Fleurs magiques was released; the film starred Marc-André Grondin as a boy struggling to cope with his father’s alcoholism.

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“It was already clear that this young man was incredibly motivated and had the kind of artistic sensibilities that you don’t see often,” Kelly recalled Monday in a Facebook tribute. “We always had passionate talks about music. If anything, he was more of a music fan than a movie fan. He lived for music. “

Music was a big part of CRAZY, “with Vallée spending over $ 600,000, an amount unprecedented for a Canadian film, to obtain the rights to songs by Bowie, the Stones and Pink Floyd,” Kelly wrote. “But he said he couldn’t make the movie without those songs, and he was right.”

Vallée is survived by her two sons and three siblings.

Reuters and other media contributed to this report.

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