Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon respond to Big Little Lies controversy

Tasha Hegarty

29 July 2019 at 7:04 pm

Big Little Lies' second season might have got strong ratings and a good reception from fans, but it was also the subject of some behind-the-scenes controversy.

HBO was recently forced to cool rumours that season 2 director Andrea Arnold lost creative control of the episodes and several changes were made by executive producers – including season 1 director Jean-Marc Vallée – in the final edits.

However, two of the show's leading ladies have now responded to the claims themselves, and it's safe to say they're not having any of it.

"He [Casey Bloys, head of HBO] said it beautifully," Nicole Kidman told Entertainment Weekly. "That's why we had Casey handle it. Obviously, he’s the head of HBO. He really said it beautifully."

HBO's statement read: "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."

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Reese Witherspoon also insisted that there was no controversy in the same interview as her co-star.

"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," she said.

"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.

"I was glad that Casey spoke so clearly about that and we are thrilled with the collaboration that yielded this season. It could have never been this show had it not been with these particular artists collaborating on this particular material."

Big Little Lies airs on HBO in the US and on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK.

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