Big Little Lies director Andrea Arnold reportedly had creative control 'yanked away' from her


The making of this season of HBO's Big Little Lies looks to have been just as contentious as anything happening in Monterey.
A new report from IndieWire details behind-the-scenes drama on the hit HBO series, with director Andrea Arnold reportedly having had creative control "yanked away" from her after all of the episodes were shot. Rather than Arnold, it was reportedly Jean-Marc Vallée, who directed every episode of Big Little Lies' first season, who oversaw post-production this season and has shaped the final product.
Arnold, the report says, began working on season two after being promised she'd get to do things her way. Despite this, "it had always been the plan, although unbeknownst to Arnold, for Vallée to become re-involved." Big Little Lies producers, who were concerned about whether season two would feel enough like season one in the hands of a new director, reportedly recruited Arnold because Vallée was busy, but they felt that Vallée could simply take her footage and turn it "into the show's distinctive style in post-production."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Yet no one told Arnold this might happen, and she fully expected she'd be involved during the entire process, the report says. Evidently, no concerns were ever voiced during the shoot that the series wasn't adhering to Vallée's style, either, and Vallée and Arnold never actually spoke, even though he would go on to remove her "signature contributions" in editing.
After the season wrapped, producers also reportedly called for 17 more days of shooting, at which point Vallée became "extremely hands-on" and the story was reworked quite significantly. Edits also reportedly involved chopping down longer episodes into the short 40-minute outings viewers have seen; apparently, far more than that now infamously cut ice cream scene has been getting excised.
HBO in a statement praised Arnold and said it is "extremely proud of her work," but Arnold has reportedly been "heartbroken" by the "devastating" experience. Read the full report at IndieWire.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
August 23 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purge
Cartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?
In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play