Denis Villeneuve reacts to the death of Jean-Marc Vallée: “Today, I feel alone”

Denis Villeneuve has reacted to the death of fellow Montreal filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée, who passed away suddenly near Quebec City from a heart attack on Christmas Day. The director commented in a statement earlier today through his wife, Tanya Lapointe, via social media, and again in an interview with CBC this afternoon.

“Jean-Marc for me, first of all, was a tremendous artist, a poet — someone that was a source of inspiration. And, if I can say, kind of a big brother to me and several friends. He was a little bit older than us, and had much more experience, and he was the first one to cross the border.

“He was someone that had the generosity to open his house to us and share his stories and adventures to inspire us. He was someone that loved to share, and that’s the thing that I will remember the most: his tremendous generosity.”

—Denis Villeneuve

You can watch a segment of the Denis Villeneuve interview with CBC’s Sarah Leavitt below.

I mentioned that while they were both distinctive artists, they were often mentioned side-by-side because they came from Quebec and broke through in Hollywood.

Villeneuve simply said: "Today, I feel alone."

— Sarah Leavitt (@sarahleavittcbc) December 27, 2021

For more on the work of Jean-Marc Vallée, please click here.

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