AWARD-WINNING Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallee has died at age 58, his publicist announced today.

“Rest in peace, Jean-Marc Vallee. The world is far less interesting without you in it,” Hive Communication Collective wrote on Instagram.

The Quebecois producer and director was Oscar-nominated for Dallas Buyers Club in 2013, for which actors Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto both took home Academy Awards.

In recent years, he has drawn acclaim for his work on HBO shows Big Little Lies, for which he won an Emmy award, and Sharp Objects.

US media reported that Vallee died suddenly in his cabin near Quebec City over the weekend.

The cause of death was not immediately known.

HBO said it was “shocked at the news of his sudden death”.

“Jean-Marc Vallee was a brilliant, fiercely dedicated filmmaker,” the company’s statement to The Hollywood Reporter said.

“Jean-Marc stood for creativity, authenticity and trying things differently,” Vallee’s producing partner Nathan Ross said in a statement shared with US media. 

“The maestro will sorely be missed but it comforts knowing his beautiful style and impactful work he shared with the world will live on.”

His other notable works included the Oscar-winning 2009 film The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt and Wild in 2014, for which Reese Witherspoon earned an Oscar nomination. – AFP, December 27, 2021.