A new report by IndieWire claims there was huge turmoil between the director and producers.
Behind-the-scenes drama on high-flying movie productions isn't exactly common, but it's definitely nothing new.
There's any number of examples, from the likes of 'Men In Black: International' to 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'. Those are just some recent movies, but you go back further, and there's plenty more besides. TV, however, has always seemed to be far less prone to it.
It may just be that the stakes seem less high when it's TV, because there's no huge box-office tallying needed to recoup the production. Not only that, it's only the likes of 'Game of Thrones' or the upcoming Disney+ series, 'The Mandalorian', that scrapes near the pricetag for a major blockbuster.
The second season of 'Big Little Lies', however, has had some serious background drama that's befitting of a major blockbuster. According to a new report by IndieWire, the second season was edited in post-production without director Andrea Arnold's involvement.
The report details how Jean-Marc Vallée, the director involved in the first season, was brought in after Arnold had finished filming and began cutting the second season to his style. IndieWire's sources allege that Arnold was given free rein to do as she pleased throughout production, from hiring crew to shooting schedules, but wasn't told by HBO or executive producer David E. Kelley that once she was finished filming, editing would be handled by someone else.
Again, according to IndieWire's sources, Arnold - who directed indie hits such as 'American Honey' with Shia LaBeouf, and 'Fish Tank' with Michael Fassbender - was not given any kind of guidance or style-book (that details the visual look, the editing style and soo on) for 'Big Little Lies' and was effectively told to make her own version of the second season. Once Arnold had completed her work, creative control was then taken away from her and given to Valée, who was busy with 'Sharp Objects' and had just completed work on that series before returning to 'Big Little Lies'.
It's not known specifically what Valée did with Arnold's work, but it's already been noted that some scenes which were spotted by celebrity photographers didn't make it into the series. However, HBO have responded to IndieWire's story and said that "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."