THE MAESTRO (REMEMBERING JEAN MARC VALLEE)

The sudden death of Jean Marc Vallee in a log cabin on St Stephen's Day in Quebec will have rattled many in Hollywood.

The 58 year old Canadian had acquired a strong reputation as an actor's director with a great run of Oscar nominated films and Emmy nominated TV shows.

Born and raised in a middle class family in Montréal, he specialised in taking on tough subject matter - from addiction to homophobia to trauma.

And it was his deft handling of often difficult subjects that no doubt drew major stars to his projects.

Vallee's love of cinema, though, was not immediate.

It was forged in his twenties, thanks to a class he took called 'Cinema and Society' at the College Ahuntsic in Montréal.

Vallee told a Directors Guild of America interview in 2019: "The teacher was so good, he kept my attention for three hours.

"I've never listened to a teacher like that for three hours in a row. It was in a college in Montréal and I was studying business management.

"I didn't know what to do and I was a lost kid after 20. What am I going to do with my life?

"And then this class changed my life and I went: 'Oh, I'm going to try to do this'.

"And I got introduced to all these masters from Europe, from the States, and I started to watch PBS and all these films from (Frank) Capra, from George Stevens.

"I had an affection for (John) Cassavetes. I also had a thing for (Martin) Scorsese. And then there's (Wim Wenders') 'The State of Things' and 'The American Friend' and then 'Paris, Texas'...".

Smitten by cinema, Vallee also devoured German movies, classic Soviet expressionist films from the 1920s, the work of the great Japanese directors and also fell in love with the output of Milos Forman and Francis Coppola's 'The Godfather' and 'Apocalypse Now'.

He studied filmmaking at the University of Quebec and began to direct music videos professionally from 1985.

Within five years, Vallee was directing short films which caught the eye of people in the industry in his native Canada including the Genie winning 'Magical Flowers' and its sequel 'Magical Words'.

 In 1995, he made his first feature film 'Liste Noir (Black List),' a thriller with Michel Cote, Genevieve Brouillette and Sylvie Bourque about a prostitute ensnared in a sex scandal involving influential judges and politicians that triggers a spare of murders.

The highest grossing movie in Quebec that year, it garnered a host of Genie nominations including Best Director.

On the back of its critical acclaim and commercial success in Canada, Vallee moved to LA to direct a Western in 1998 'Los Locos' with Mario Van Peebles, Rene Auberjonois, Melora Walters and Danny Trejo. 

Marketed overseas as a sequel to Van Peebles' 'Posse' when it really wasn't, 'Los Locos' was confined to a release on home video.

His next venture a year later was a forgettable, low budget erotic thriller called 'Loser Love' with Laurel Holloman, Andy Davoli and Rachel Robinson and he followed these back in Canada with two episodes of the CBC series 'The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne' with Chris Demetral and Michael Praed in 2000.

Vallee would spend the next five years developing the movie 'C.R.A.Z.Y.,' a coming of age drama in Quebec about a young gay man living with his father and brothers and dealing with homophobia in the 1960s and 70s.

Featuring the music of Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Patsy Cline, Charles Aznavour and the Rolling Stones, it starred Marc-Andre Grotin, Michel Cote and Danielle Proux and earned immediate acclaim in his homeland where it won 11 Genies including Best Picture and Best Director.

At the 2015 Toronto Film Festival, it was voted one of the ten best Canadian movies of all time.

Attracting international attention, it reignited Vallee's career with his idol Martin Scorsese engaging him to direct the 2009 British period drama 'The Young Victoria' with Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Jim Broadbent and Miranda Richardson.

His most high profile production, it was based on a Julian Fellowes screenplay which focused on the early life of Blunt's Queen Victoria and relationship with Friend's German Prince Albert 

Again, music was to the fore with Vallee using songs by The Rolling Stones to set the right tone on set and commissioning Sinead O'Connor to record a track 'Only You' for the film.

International critics sat up and took notice of the film, with Blunt's performance coming in for considerable praise, with her earning Best Actress British Independent Film Award and Golden Globe nominations.

Sandy Powell's costume design won a BAFTA and an Oscar.

Vallee's next project in 2011 was the movie 'Cafe de Flore' - a Canadian drama which flitted between present day Montréal and 1960s Paris that netted 13 Genie nominations.

Starring Vanessa Paradis, Kevin Parent and Helene Florent, the film was well received in Canada but was panned by critics in France and other countries.

Despite this, Paradis would go on to capture the Genie for Best Actress.

His next film 'Dallas Buyers Club' in 2013 was a critically lauded tale about a promiscuous real life electrician and rodeo star, Matthew McConaghey's Ron Woodruff who got AIDS after having sex with a prostitute and ended up running an operation that smuggled into Texas unapproved pharmaceutical treatments for HIV patients.

Featuring a barnstorming performance by McConaghey in which the actor shed a lot of weight, it netted its star a Best Actor Oscar.

It also led to Jared Leto winning the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance as a trans woman who helps Woodruff with the smuggling ring.

Also starring Jennifer Garner, Vallee earned a Best Film Editing nomination under the pseudonym John Mac Murphy alongside Michael Pensa.

But the film also cemented his reputation as an actor's director.

A year later he helped Reese Witherspoon land a Best Actress nomination with the hiking drama 'Wild' - another true life story about a recovering drug addict who undertakes an epic trek along the Pacific Crest Trail while reflecting on past mistakes.

Adapted by Nick Hornby from a memoir by Witherspoon's Cheryl Strayed, it also secured Laura Dern a Best Supporting Actress nomination and featured Dutch actor Michiel Huisman, Thomas Sadoski and Gaby Hoffman in the cast.

Critics again zoned in on Callee's deft handling of his cast and especially Witherspoon.

In 2015, he teamed up with Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts and Chris Cooper for the morose comedy drama 'Demolition' about an angry investment banker who loses his wife in a road accident and engages in erratic behaviour.

Less enthusiastically received by critics, it was to be Vallee's last feature film 

The Canadian director instead focused on the small screen, teaming up with Witherspoon and Dern again to direct HBO's acclaimed drama 'Little Big Lies' which also starred Nicole Kidman, Zoe Kravitz, Shailene Woodley and Alexander Skarsgard about five women who get sucked into a murder investigation.

Vallee directed the entire first season - making way for Andrea Arnold for the second which also featured Meryl Streep.

The first season would win Outstanding Limited Series at the Emmys and earn him a Best Director award.

In 2018, Vallee directed Amy Adams, Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina and Eliza Scanlen in the outstanding Gillian Flynn scripted psychological thriller series 'Sharp Objects' for HBO.

He picked up a Directors Guild of America nomination for his efforts, while Clarkson won a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Television Award which also went to Adams for Best Actress who also secured Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

In 2020, Vallee was conferred with the National Order of Quebec in his home state.

Married with two sons, he and his producing partner Nathan Rose signed a development deal in April 2021 with HBO and HBO Max.

He had been exploring the possibility of adapting Zack McDermott's memoir about his bipolar disorder 'Gorilla and The Bird: A Memoir of Madness and A Mother's Love'.

He was also linked to another feature film project about John Lennon and Yoko Ono's relationship.

Like the sudden death of any creative in their middle age, Vallee's passing leaves the movie and TV industry wondering what might have been.

However as Nathan Ross pointed out in a touching tribute: "The maestro will be sorely missed but it comforts knowing his beautiful style and impactful work he shared with the world will live on."

Vallee's work will indeed live on and inspire future filmmakers too.

(Jean Marc Vallee passed away at the age of 58 on December 26, 2021)