Big Little Lies Behind-the-Scenes Drama: Was Director Andrea Arnold Sidelined After Filming Wrapped?
Forget all the drama of the Monterey school system: HBO‘s Big Little Lies has plenty of drama off-camera as well.
According to a bombshell report from our sister site Indiewire, the current Season 2 of the Emmy-winning drama featured a major power struggle behind the scenes, with director Andrea Arnold being pushed out after filming wrapped in favor of Season 1 director and executive producer Jean-Marc Vallée. Arnold’s footage was reshaped by Vallée to more closely match the visual style of Season 1 — despite the fact that Arnold was assured she’d have creative control over the look and feel of Season 2 — and a whopping 17 days of additional shooting were scheduled, with Vallée unofficially taking the reins from Arnold.
The result, as Indiewire terms it, is “slightly disjointed,” with eleven credited editors (!) working in Vallée’s hometown of Montreal to reconcile the two sets of footage, adding more Season 1 flashbacks and chopping down the original 60-plus-page scripts to 40-minute episodes. Arnold is reportedly “heartbroken” by the experience, especially after the cast and EPs — including writer David E. Kelley — were so effusive in their praise of Arnold during production. (Season 2 of Big Little Lies wraps up next Sunday, July 21 at 9/8c on HBO.)
HBO responded to Indiewire’s report with a statement: “There wouldn’t be a Season 2 of Big Little Lies without Andrea Arnold. We at HBO and the producers are extremely proud of her work. As with any television project, the executive producers work collaboratively on the series. and we think the final product speaks for itself.”
Is the off-camera tension on Season 2 of Big Little Lies showing up on screen? Let us know how this season compares to Season 1 so far in the comments.
I’m not at all surprised by this. Vallee did an interview with IndieWire a few weeks ago, before BLL season 2 premiered I believe, where he essentially said he “had to” take over the editing process because Arnold and co. were having “difficulties”. In my own opinion, Vallee came across as a smug ashtray, if you catch my drift.
Also, upon reading the Indiewire article just posted, a prime example of the post-production adjustments is the scene where Madeline and Abigail meet Mary Louise when they are having ice cream. There is is literally no context to the scene, it just starts of what I’m sure was the middle of the scene, and ends abruptly.
So they crapped on the season by chopping up her work. Way to go #hbo. The scenes I saw with Meryl were outstanding.
I’ve been really disappointed with Season 2, despite all the effusive praise from what seemed like every single outlet before the premiere. “Disjointed” is a good way to describe the episodes.
I didn’t like the editing at all, especially the flashbacks. Why do we need to see the ladies’ reaction to Perry going down the stairs every episode? For so few episodes, it was very redundant.
Ah ok – this is starting to make sense. While I can’t stop gushing about the acting, when I think over some of the episodes this season, I’m definitely left with some head scratchers after second thought. Not that I need things spelled out for me, but there are a lot of things we’re left filling in the gap on that don’t make sense.
I was wondering why there were so many editors this season and yet the editing, well, sucks. Now I know why. Disjointed is the right term for it. Some of the scenes were cut abruptly then onto the next scene and as a result there was no organic story flow.
I’m going to be really angry if this is the reason we didn’t get to see Madeline throw the ice cream and nail Mary Louse!
Not as strong as last season and that includes the acting. I wound up looking forward to any scene that Laura Dern was in, she adds the passion that the other don’t. Some of the individual story lines are really good, but since the characters are somewhat laid back about them, well – hey – so am I!!
Not as strong as last season and that includes the acting. I wound up looking forward to any scene that Laura Dern was in, she adds the passion that the other don’t. Some of the individual story lines are really good, but since the characters are somewhat laid back about them, well – hey – so am I!!
Laura Dern is the star of this season for sure!
So what. The producers are the bosses. Directors are just employees. Much of the time I doubt if any viewers know, or care, who directs, writes, or for that matter edits, a TV show. Unless its someone like David Lynch of course.
Sorry but that’s just wrong. Directors, writers, and editors are all visionaries and creative forces behind any film or TV project. Often they are executive producers themselves. To say that people don’t care about them is ignorant. The show wouldn’t exist without them.
Yeah, you have absolutely no idea how a show or a movie is made. What a ridiculous comment.
I guess this explains the Jean-Marc Vallée thank you in the end credits. I wondered why and thought it could be for consulting on this season.
If you want to break a real story, take a look into the behind the scenes nightmare that is/was/will be Carnival Row (the Amazon series). Honestly the most insane production shoot I’ve ever seen.
What happened? Please tell.
Season 2 less compelling, feel short-changed with frequent insertion of former footage and reduced length.
Easy way to say is creative difference after shooting. One director and two mega stars served as the executive producers have the full control of their final work. Doesn’t this happen all the time in the industry? Maybe our lady Meryl Streep was not happy with her angle shots.
I don’t understand why they’d give a director “creative control”. That’s not how television series work. Series directors are usually expected to continue filming in the same style as what came before. That’s part of what made the series a hit in the first place, right?
I would need more information on what actually went down before blaming specific people.
I haven’t watched season 2 yet, and enjoyed season 1. But I honestly wonder if this show would’ve been as big of a hit if the 5 or 6 lead actresses were unknown newcomers and not A-List movie actresses. My guess is probably not.
Noticed the difference love Vallees directing S1 S2 is ok storylines meh let’s get to the important stuff who the heck came up with SW/Janes hair & makeup style it’s horrible lol HBO should have waited for Valle /actors availability whats a year or 2 think Sopranos GOT.
Season 2 was terrible, even Meryl couldn’t save it. Disjointed is right, too many flashbacks in each episode. These great women actors deserve better. Season 1 was so great I looked forward to S2 … now I don’t care if they make S3.