Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman refute reports of Big Little Lies behind-the-scenes strife

Entertainment Weekly

"In our minds, there is no controversy," Witherspoon told EW in reference to the Indiewire story alleging that creative control on Season 2 was taken away from director Andrea Arnold. "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. I was glad that (HBO programming president Casey Bloys) spoke so clearly about that (last week) 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." Kidman added: "David E. Kelley is the creator and I would say Jean-Marc (Vallée) is the heartbeat, and Andrea came into season 2 and brought the most tender, beautiful care and warmth to us as women. That was the unbelievable collaboration of these artists. We are lucky to work with these great artists who are willing to intertwine their talents." Meanwhile, Witherspoon and Kidman both said that whether Big Little Lies will return for Season 3 will be decided at some point. "It’s a collaboration," said Kidman. "We work as a group. We are incredibly tight; we talk to each other, and we are on each other’s side. So, we will decide as a group. We listen to the way in which people react because so much of TV is a very immediate medium. Every single person who has made this has said this show is bigger than any single one of us."