HBO Dismisses 'Big Little Lies' Director Controversy As 'Misinformation'
Controversy, what controversy?
Today, HBO’s president of programming Casey Bloys addressed reporting that Season 2 of "Big Little Lies” was "taken away from" director Andrea Arnold.
"There’s a lot of misinformation around that subject," he said at the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Wednesday.
"Let me clarify. There wouldn’t be a second season without Andrea. We’re indebted to her." But, he added, "As anybody who works in television knows, a director typically does not have final creative control. That creative control was taken from a director is a false premise.”
IndieWire reported that Arnold was given the impression she had carte blanche for Season 2, then was devastated to have the entire season taken out of her hands and re-edited by Season 1 director and series executive producer Jean-Marc Vallée.
Bloys says Arnold was never promised final cut. He added, "I would be hard pressed to point to any show that airs the director’s cut of any episodes."
As for the fact that as many as a dozen editors worked on some episodes this season, Boys explained, "[Jean-Marc] is an editor and he has a team of editors that he works with he is very particular about who he works with and how he works with them."
He added, “Jean-Marc was not given carte blanche [in Season 1]. He and [David E. Kelley] and the producers had an aligned vision on that they wanted to do.”
Speaking of a potential third season, Bloys didn't expect one, saying: "To me, there’s no obvious place to go, no obvious story. I would certainly be open to it because I love working with all of them.”
None of the stars of the show, some of whom also produce, have so far commented on the controversy.
Although Laura Dern did show her support for Arnold by posting a photo of herself in a t-shirt that read "Andrea Arnold" to Instagram when shooting on Season 2 wrapped.
