Before ‘The Bird’, Andrea Arnold Directed ‘Big Little Lies’ Season 2 & It Didn’t End Well
Initially started as a major career boost, Arnold’s participation in the Reese Witherspoon-led crime drama turned into a major scandal back in the day — here’s why.
After winning an Academy Award for her short movie Wasp back in 2005, Andrea Arnold went on to direct a bunch of other films and TV shows, with the latest titled being a 2024 drama movie The Bird that starred Barry Keoghan.
However, it’s likely that not many have heard about the director’s name also being attached to HBO’s Big Little Lies, a hit psychological drama series that will likely get that third season after all.
Replacing the show’s original director Jean-Marc Vallée, Arnold directed Big Little Lies’ entire second season, though the show eventually brought her both fame and major distress.
Andrea Arnold Had No Creative Control Over ‘Big Little Lies’ Season 2
Despite coming on board to helm the entire season of seven episodes, Arnold didn’t have many choices when it came to reshaping the series according to her own vision — even though she was in fact promised such an opportunity.
When Arnold was hired to direct Big Little Lies’ season 2, she was free to change whatever she felt was weird in the new instalment, but things shifted radically when the first season’s director Jean-Marc Vallée got all the creative control after becoming one of the executive producers.
HBO’s sudden jump was explained by the fact that the studio still wanted the first and second seasons to harmonise stylistically; as some sources revealed back in the day, Arnold’s work was always meant to end up in Vallée’s hands, the former just wasn’t a part of the plan anyway.
‘Big Little Lies’ Fans Say HBO’s Controversy Explains Season 2 Flaws
It probably wouldn’t have been that much of a problem if Arnold had helmed the show’s second season alongside some other director – though, apparently, all the shot episodes were cut and mixed up just to make them all look like they were written by Vallée as well.
“This explains the backlit shots with characters in shadow that mix awkwardly cut against conventional lighting a few seconds later. This also explains my biggest beef—the short show length filled with conversations that end too soon”, twilightpiglet commented in a show-related thread.
“Yikes, this is awful. Even if we put aside how disrespectful this is, Arnold and Vallée have quite different styles, how did they think this would even work? The weird flow has been noticeable”, MrFameKills agreed.
“I would have loved to see Andrea Arnold's work. Her handheld camera style, her emotional nuances, her lighting... can you imagine if her down to earth, indie-style filmmaking was kept? It would have been so refreshing for us viewers. Instead, we are bombarded with flashbacks from season one in every episode”, another user ranted.
Will There Be ‘Big Little Lies’ Season 3?
There’s no official news about the show’s next instalment, but Nicole Kidman spilled the tea back in 2023, revealing that Big Little Lies’ season 3 was in the works at HBO.
