Rachel Talalay

Rachel Talalay (born 16 August 1958) is a British-American film and television director and producer. She is also a University of British Columbia film professor.[1]

Rachel Talalay
Born	(1958-08-16) 16 August 1958 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater	Yale University
Occupation	Director producer professor
Years active	1981–present
Spouse(s)	Rupert Harvey
Children	2
Parent(s)	Paul Talalay

Early life and education

Talalay was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her father Paul Talalay was a pharmacologist, born in Berlin to a Russian Jewish family, and her mother Pamela is an English biochemist. She has two sisters and a brother.[2] She was raised mostly in Baltimore, Maryland, with two years of her childhood in Britain.[1] Talalay attended Yale, where she majored in mathematics, graduating in 1980.[3][4] She also ran the Yale Film Society.[3]

Career

Talalay has worked in a number of different capacities in filmmaking before making her directorial debut with the film Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991).[5] Talalay also worked on the first four A Nightmare on Elm Street films.[3] Her work with the earlier Nightmare films utilized her computer skills and finding ways to create better special effects while still keeping costs low.[3] Despite her familiarity with the Freddy movies, when she directed Freddy's Dead, she was given internal memos telling her not to be "too girly" or "too sensitive."[6]

Talalay also directed Tank Girl in 1995, and was looking into re-optioning the rights to make a new film in 2008.[7] As a film producer, Talalay worked with director John Waters on the films Hairspray (1988) and Cry-Baby (1990). She was also a production assistant on Waters' 1981 film Polyester.[8]

Talalay states that ever since Doctor Who was revived in 2005, she wanted to work on the show.[9] Talalay directed all three of Peter Capaldi's series finales: series 8's "Dark Water" and "Death in Heaven"[10], series 9's "Heaven Sent" and "Hell Bent"—the former considered by many to be one of the best episodes in the show's 56-year history[11]— and series 10's "World Enough and Time" and "The Doctor Falls",[12] as well as the Doctor Who 2017 Christmas special, "Twice Upon a Time".[13] In 2019, she was hired by Netflix to direct an adaption of Joe Ballarini's A Babysitter’s Guide To Monsters.[14]

Personal life

Talalay met British film producer Rupert Harvey while working on Android in 1982. They began a relationship soon after, and were married in 1990, with John Waters officiating the wedding.[4][15] They have two daughters, Sophie and Lucy. They live in Kitsilano, Vancouver, Canada. [15]

Selected filmography

Movies

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Notes
1988	Hairspray	No	Yes	No
	A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master	No	Yes	No
1990	Cry-Baby	No	Yes	No
1991	Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare	Yes	No	Yes
1993	Ghost in the Machine	Yes	No	No
1995	Tank Girl	Yes	No	No
1997	The Borrowers	No	Yes	No
2003	A Tale of Two Wives	Yes	No	No	Television film
2006	The Wind in the Willows	Yes	No	No
2012	Hannah's Law	Yes	No	No
2014	The Dorm	Yes	No	No
2016	Unclaimed	Yes	No	No

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Band of Gold	Director	Episodes: "Tainted Love (part one)" (3.05) "Tainted Love (part one)" (3.06)
1998	To Have & to Hold	Director	Episodes: Turkey Day Blues (1.08) Who's Sorry Next? (1.12)
1998	Touching Evil (U.K. Series)	Director	Episodes: "War Relief: Part 1" (2.03) "War Relief: Part 2" (2.04)
1999-2002	Ally McBeal	Director	Episodes: "Saving Santa" (3.07) "Prime Suspect"(3.15) "Two's a Crowd" (4.03) "Blowin' in the Wind" (5.09)
2000	Boston Public	Director	Episode: "Chapter Five" (1.05)
2000	Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)	Director	Episodes: "Mental Apparition Disorder" (1.02) "A Blast From the Past" (1.05)
2001	That's Life	Director	Episode: Miracle at the Cucina (1.18)
2001	State of Grace	Director	Episode: Eve of Discussion (1.07)
2001	Wolf Lake	Director	Episode: Tastes Like Chicken (1.04)
2001	Dice	Director	Episodes: "Episode #1.1" "Episode #1.2" "Episode #1.3" "Episode #1.4" "Episode #1.5" "Episode #1.6"
2002	Without a Trace	Director	Episode: "He Saw, She Saw" (1.03)
2002	Crossing Jordan	Director	Episode: "Four Fathers" (1.14)
2002-2007	The Dead Zone	Director	Episodes: "Shaman" (1.12) "Symmetry" (5.07) "Ego" (6.02)
2002-2003	The Division	Director	Episodes: A Priori (2.07) Castaways (3.17)
2003	Cold Case	Director	Episode: "Sherry Darlin'" (1.09)
2004	Touching Evil (U.S. Series)	Director	Episode: "Y Me" (1.02)
2004	Life as We Know It	Director	Episode: "Natural Disasters" (1.06)
2004	Unfabulous	Director	Episode: "The Perfect Couple" (2.10)
2005	Sex, Love & Secrets	Director	Episode: "Protection" (1.08) (Unaired)
2005	Terminal City	Director	Episodes: "Episode #1.1" "Episode #1.2" "Episode #1.7" "Episode #1.8"
2006	What About Brian	?	?
2006	Whistler	Director	Episodes: "In The Air" (1.07) "After The Fall" (1.08) "Scratching The Surface" (1.11) "Meltdown" (1.12)
2007	Supernatural	Director	Episode: "Hunted" (2.10)
2007	Greek	Director	Episode: "Separation Anxiety" (1.08)
2007	Kyle XY	Director	Episodes: "Hands on a Hybrid" (2.11) "Leap of Faith" (2.13)
2008	Flash Gordon (2007)	Director	Episode: "Blame" (1.18)
2009	Da Kink in My Hair	Director	Episodes: "Of Papers and Patois" (2.03) "Playing Social" (2.04) "Honesty the Best Policy?" (2.07)
2009	Durham County	Director	Episodes: "Boys Do Things" (1.03) "Consumed" (1.04)
2010	Cra$h & Burn	Director	Episodes: "Lawyers, Guns & Money" (1.08) "Bond Blame Baptize" (1.11)
2010	Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures	Director	Episodes: "How to Get Ahead in Medical School" (1.01) "Family Practice" (1.04) "Unhappy Endings" (1.05)
2010	Haven	Director	Episodes: "Harmony" (2.05) "Surviving the Fall" (2.06)
2011	Endgame	Director	Episode: "Gorillas in Our Midst" (1.07)
2011	Hiccups	Director	Episode: "Sexual Healing" (2.08)
2012	Continuum	Director	Episode: "Time's Up" (1.06)
2012	XIII: The Series	Director	Episodes: "Breakout" (2.07) "Mousetrap" (2.08)
2013	Bomb Girls	Director	Episodes: "Party Line" (2.07) "Fifth Column" (2.08)
2013	Played	Director	Episodes: "Cars" (1.07) "Revenge" (1.13)
2014	Reign	Director	Episode: "Sacrifice" (1.10)
2014–2017	Doctor Who	Director	Episodes: "Deep Breath (8.1) (1 scene, uncredited) "Dark Water" (8.11) "Death in Heaven" (8.12) "Heaven Sent" (9.11) "Hell Bent" (9.12) "World Enough and Time" (10.11) "The Doctor Falls" (10.12) "Twice Upon a Time" (2017 Christmas Special)[16]
2015	South of Hell	Director	Episodes: "Judge and Fury" (1.02) "White Noise" (1.04)
2016-2019	The Flash	Director	Episodes: "Fast Lane" (2.12) "The Present" (3.09) "Fury Rogue" (4.19) "Cause and XS" (5.14)
2016	Legends of Tomorrow	Director	Episode: "Last Refuge" (1.12)
2016-2019	Supergirl	Director	Episodes: "Welcome to Earth" (2.03) "Suspicious Minds" (4.10)
2017	Sherlock	Director	Episode: "The Six Thatchers" (4.01)
2018-2019	Riverdale	Director	Episodes: "Chapter Twenty-Five: The Wicked and the Divine" (2.12) "Chapter Forty-One: Manhunter" (3.06) "Chapter Fifty-Seven: Survive the Night" (3.22)
2018	Iron Fist	Director	Episode: "The City's Not for Burning" (2.02)
2018	Chilling Adventures of Sabrina	Director	Episode: "Chapter Six: An Exorcism in Greendale" (1.06)
2019	Doom Patrol	Director	Episode: "Puppet Patrol" (1.03)
2019	American Gods	Director	Episode: "Donar the Great" (2.06)[17]

References

1. Bailey, Ian (8 August 2014). "Q&A: UBC professor went from Doctor Who fan to director of this season's finale". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
2. "Dr. Paul Talalay, Johns Hopkins molecular pharmacologist who made broccoli famous as a cancer fighter, dies". The Baltimore Sun. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
3. Wigler, Stephen (27 September 1991). "'Freddy's Dead' Gives Rise to Career". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
4. Wigler, Stephen (September 8, 1991). "A Friend of Freddy Krueger: Rachel Talalay has worked on five 'Elm Street' films". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
5. "A Nightmare On Elm Street : Interviews - Rachel Talalay". Nightmareonelmstreetfilms.com. 2005-03-22. Retrieved 2014-12-27.
6. Rohter, Larry (17 March 1991). "Are Women Directors an Endangered Species?". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
7. Anderson, Martin (August 5, 2008). "Rachel Talalay for Tank Girl reboot". Den of Geek!. Archived from the original on May 5, 2018.
8. Rachel Talalay Biography, Film Reference
9. Collis, Clark (3 November 2014). "Doctor Who Director Rachel Talalay Talks 'Dark Water'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
10. "Film Prof Directs Doctor Who Season Finale". The University of British Columbia. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
11. Reynolds, Andrew (20 December 2015). "Directing Doctor Who: Rachel Talalay's Notes on Heaven Sent". Katerborous. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
12. "Original Mondasian Cybermen return to Doctor Who!". BBC. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
13. "The 2017 Doctor Who Christmas special will be called..." Radio Times. 23 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
14. Fleming Jr., Joe (April 15, 2019). "Netflix Turning 'A Babysitter's Guide To Monsters' Into Family Film; Rachel Talalay To Direct". Deadline. Archived from the original on April 15, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
15. Collis, Clark (July 19, 2016). "Rachel Talalay talks going from Tank Girl to Sherlock". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
16. Marcus (23 July 2017). "Twice Upon A Time - Official Doctor Who 2017 Christmas Teaser | SDCC 2017 | BBC America". Retrieved 23 July 2017.
17. "Home - American Gods S2 Presskit". Starz]. Retrieved February 12, 2019.

External links

• Rachel Talalay on IMDb