Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman React to Rumors of Big Little Lies Drama

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published 29 July 2019

Speaking exclusively to Entertainment Weekly, Big Little Lies stars Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman addressed the idea that season 2 director Andrea Arnold lost creative control.
According to them, it was a collaborative environment and the rumors are misinformation.
This season really topped season 1 in terms of drama and epic moments.

Two of the Monterey Five have SPOKEN! Reports have been circulating recently there was off-screen drama to match the on-screen drama on season 2 of Big Little Lies—specifically that Andrea Arnold, who was the director for season 2, allegedly lost creative control to Jean-Marc Vallée, season 1 director. But in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, stars Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon are refuting that.

Speaking about Andrea as a director in general, Nicole said, "I think she did beautiful work. There is the same vocabulary cinematically but the performances are mined differently and you really feel that." Reese added, "Everything was discussed as a creative group and entity. The thing that was confusing to me was that anybody would say people took over because it was always a very creative process."

The two actresses added on to what HBO executive Casey Bloys had said, which was that there was a lot of misinformation around Andrea and that the director doesn't have final creative control of a project anyways. According to Reese, "In our minds, there is no controversy. We just love the show. We had such a great time doing it. There was a lot of misinformation and no credited sources on any of the information. This was an incredibly collaborative process for all of us and the idea that anyone was mistreated and not communicated with is completely not true."

We also got a little insight into a potential season 3—namely, that the cast and crew work as a group, so that's how they'll decide. (Soooo that's not a no! I WILL TAKE IT.)

Last week, Reese also took to social media to refute rumblings of issues on set, saying that "every single cast member, location scout, camera operator, teamster, film editor, makeup artist, caterer and prop master on our production...you have made my whole experience a dream come true."

A post shared by Reese Witherspoon (@reesewitherspoon)
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So there you have it—apparently all the drama's on-screen, not off?

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Katherine has a BA in English and art history from the University of Notre Dame and an MA in art business from the Sotheby's Institute of Art (with a focus on marketing/communications). She covers a wide breadth of topics: she's written about how to find the very best petite jeans, how sustainable travel has found its footing on Instagram, and what it's like to be a professional advice-giver in the modern world. Her personal essays have run the gamut from learning to dress as a queer woman to navigating food allergies as a mom. She also has deep knowledge of SEO/EATT, affiliate revenue, commerce, and social media; she regularly edits the work of other writers. She speaks at writing-related events and podcasts about freelancing and journalism, mentors students and other new writers, and consults on coursework. Currently, Katherine lives in Boston with her husband and two kids, and you can follow her on Instagram. If you're wondering about her last name, it’s “I go to dinner,” not “Her huge ego,” but she responds to both.