Director Profile | Rachel Talalay (Television)

Rachel Talalay - Director Profile

Rachel Talalay, aged 58, is an American director who has worked on a number of blockbuster films in decades past, however she has since transitioned into TV and continues to produce incredible work both in the US and the UK.

With a history of working on films such as "Nightmare on Elm Street" she holds an impressive resume. Currently she consistently directs episodes of The CW's DC Superhero series of shows, including 'The Flash', 'Legends of Tomorrow' and 'Supergirl'. Thanks to her British parents a portion of her upbringing was in the UK and therefore established another 'homebase' of sorts for her to work within England. Through this she was able to secure prominent directing roles in the likes of 'Sherlock' and in 2014 became the first American-born director to direct 'Doctor Who'.

 One of her most recent works is two episodes of 'The Flash'. The framing of shots within her work always interests me as she revels in the superhero nature of the show, while not focusing too much on the action; there is a significant emphasis on the emotional trouble of these characters, characters that were written to be 'larger than life' untouchables. Working with some incredible talent including John Wesley Shipp and even Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill (pictured below), she continues to demonstrate an ability to pick out unique and interesting shots.
I think one of the main problems that superhero
shows can run into is the idea that the protagonist is untouchable, lacking any sense of vulnerability whatsoever, however I find that through Talalay's direction the audience is treated to a more personal experience, these characters get hurt, die, or worse - and we as an audience get to observe it as viscerally and up-close as possible.

Talalay also seems to enjoy utilising slow motion camera techniques to further immerse the audience. Of course this makes sense for a show where the protagonist is able to travel faster than the human eye... right?

Well... Talalay also uses slow motion shots a lot in her other recent work. 'Sherlock 4x01 The Six Thatchers' continued the theme of slow motion video with multiple shots to emphasise the slow, methodical process of digging around in Sherlock's 'mind palace' as he calls it. Vivian, an antagonist within the episode fires a gunshot, and the camera captures the bullet's movement as it hurtles towards Sherlock and his friends. (Pictured below)

One of the reasons her career has taken off like it has is her use decision to use mostly practical effects in the first two 'Nightmare on Elm Street' films. This was done in order to conserve budget for one, however from a creative standpoint, Talalay believed that it would provide a more realistic, believable interpretation of the Freddy Kreuger character, as opposed to layering computer-animated effects on in post-production.

Rachel has previously suggested in many interviews that she expressed an interest in working on the new rebooted 'Doctor Who' series as early as 2005, however didn't actually make her debut until the 2014 season finale 'Dark Water' and 'Death in Heaven' where she beautifully directed Peter Capaldi and Michelle Gomez's return in the infamous role of 'The Master'.

As for the direction I want to include within my 'Breaking Bad' short, I want to be able to convey small nuanced emotions. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to do this given the specific scene that I have chosen, however I also like to take this as a challenge. I think it would be nice to be able to mix in some extreme close-up shots similar to that of Vince Gilligan, that way I could get some new and interesting perspectives for the sequence.