Men’s Fashion Holiday 2014 cover: Dallas Buyers Club director Jean-Marc Vallée

Filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée is at the forefront of the new vanguard of Quebecois film talent that is putting Canada in the spotlight. His latest film Wild, which is based on troubled woman Cheryl Strayed (played by Reese Witherspoon – whose performance is already generating Oscar buzz) and her solo 1,100 mile hike to escape a troubled past, hits theatres in December.

With critically-acclaimed films such as 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club to his name, and his upcoming movie Demolition, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, already in production, Vallée shows no sign of slowing down. In an exclusive interview with Men’s FASHION, he opens up about his past career successes, hometown of Montreal, upcoming film and more in the below excerpts:

On his connection to the storyline of Cheryl Strayed (played by Reese Witherspoon) in Wild: “It’s about this mother-daughter relationship. I had a mother who is so close to Cheryl’s mother, and I lost her to cancer three years ago. I cried like a baby when I read the book—it was like I was finishing mourning.”

On his approach to directing: “These Wild and Dallas Buyers Club> are director-oriented projects and everybody accepts that and respects that. But I’m also an open-minded guy. I don’t mind being challenged by the producers or whoever else.”

On the spirit of adventure and fearlessness in Wild: “I knew not only that I had strong, beautiful material, but that I had the kind of material that allows a director to play, to treat the medium like a toy.”

The Holiday issue of Men’s FASHION Magazine will be distributed with several newspapers: The Globe and Mail in Toronto, Montreal Gazette, Vancouver Sun, and will be polybagged with FASHION Magazine in Shoppers Drug Mart locations on November 17, 2014.