Rachel Talalay

Last updated
Rachel Talalay
Rachel Talalay.jpg
Talalay in 2016
Born (1958-07-16) July 16, 1958 (age 66)
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Alma mater Yale University
Occupations
  • Filmmaker
  • producer
  • professor
Years active1981–present
Spouse
Rupert Harvey
​
(m. 1990)​
Children2
Parent Paul Talalay (father)

Rachel Talalay (born July 16, 1958) is an American filmmaker and producer best known for directing films such as Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), Ghost in the Machine (1993), and Tank Girl (1995). Her television credits include episodes of Ally McBeal , Supernatural , Doctor Who , Sherlock , Riverdale , Doom Patrol , Superman & Lois and Quantum Leap .

Contents

Talalay is also a professor at the University of British Columbia. [1]

Early life and education

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

Career

Talalay 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 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] She returned to Doctor Who in 2023 for "The Star Beast" with David Tennant & Catherine Tate returning as the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble as part of the show's 60th anniversary. In 2019, she directed a film adaption of Joe Ballarini's A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting for Netflix. [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] Talalay and Harvey have a daughter named Lucy. [16]

Filmography

Films

Director

Producer

Television

TV movies

TV series

YearTitleEpisodesRef
1997 Band of Gold
  • "Tainted Love (Part 1)"
  • "Tainted Love (Part 2)"
1998 To Have & to Hold
  • "Turkey Day Blues"
  • "Who's Sorry Next?"
Touching Evil (U.K. Series)
  • "War Relief: Part 1"
  • "War Relief: Part 2"
1999–2002 Ally McBeal
  • "Saving Santa"
  • "Prime Suspect"
  • "Two's a Crowd"
  • "Blowin' in the Wind"
2000 Boston Public
  • "Chapter Five"
Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)
  • "Mental Apparition Disorder"
  • "A Blast From the Past"
2001 That's Life
  • "Miracle at the Cucina"
State of Grace
  • "Eve of Discussion"
Wolf Lake
  • "Tastes Like Chicken"
Dice
  • "Episode #1.1"
  • "Episode #1.2"
  • "Episode #1.3"
  • "Episode #1.4"
  • "Episode #1.5"
  • "Episode #1.6"
2002 Without a Trace
  • "He Saw, She Saw"
Crossing Jordan
  • "Four Fathers"
2002–2007 The Dead Zone
  • "Shaman"
  • "Symmetry"
  • "Ego"
2002–2003 The Division
  • "A Priori"
  • "Castaways"
2003 Cold Case
  • "Sherry Darlin"
2004 Touching Evil (U.S. Series)
  • "Y Me"
Life as We Know It
  • "Natural Disasters"
Unfabulous
  • "The Perfect Couple"
2005 Sex, Love & Secrets
  • "Protection" (Unaired)
Terminal City
  • "Episode #1.1"
  • "Episode #1.2"
  • "Episode #1.7"
  • "Episode #1.8"
2006 Whistler
  • "In The Air"
  • "After The Fall"
  • "Scratching The Surface"
  • "Meltdown"
2007 Supernatural
  • "Hunted"
Greek
  • "Separation Anxiety"
Kyle XY
  • "Hands on a Hybrid"
  • "Leap of Faith"
2008 Flash Gordon
  • "Blame"
2009 Da Kink in My Hair
  • "Of Papers and Patois"
  • "Playing Social"
  • "Honesty the Best Policy?"
Durham County
  • "Boys Do Things"
  • "Consumed"
2010 Cra$h & Burn
  • "Lawyers, Guns & Money"
  • "Bond Blame Baptize"
Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
  • "How to Get Ahead in Medical School"
  • "Family Practice"
  • "Unhappy Endings"
Haven
  • "Harmony"
  • "Surviving the Fall"
2011 Endgame
  • "Gorillas in Our Midst"
Hiccups
  • "Sexual Healing"
2012 Continuum
  • "Time's Up"
XIII: The Series
  • "Breakout"
  • "Mousetrap"
2013 Bomb Girls
  • "Party Line"
  • "Fifth Column"
Played
  • "Cars"
  • "Revenge"
2014 Reign
  • "Sacrifice"
2014–2015, 2017,
2022–2023		 Doctor Who
2015 South of Hell
  • "Judge and Fury"
  • "White Noise"
2016–2023 The Flash
  • "Fast Lane"
  • "The Present"
  • "Fury Rogue"
  • "Cause and XS"
  • "Masquerade"
  • "The Mask of the Red Death, Part 2"
2016–2021 Legends of Tomorrow
  • "Last Refuge"
  • "Meat the Legends"
 [17]
2016–2019 Supergirl
  • "Welcome to Earth"
  • "Suspicious Minds"
2017 Sherlock
2018–2021 Riverdale
  • "Chapter Twenty-Five: The Wicked and the Divine"
  • "Chapter Forty-One: Manhunter"
  • "Chapter Fifty-Seven: Survive the Night"
  • "Chapter Eighty-Four: Lock & Key"
2018 Iron Fist
  • "The City's Not for Burning"
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
  • "Chapter Six: An Exorcism in Greendale"
2019 Doom Patrol
  • "Puppet Patrol"
American Gods
  • "Donar the Great"
 [18]
2021 Superman & Lois
  • "The Best of Smallville"
2022 Quantum Leap
  • "A Decent Proposal"

Partial Accolades

Leo Awards

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References

  1. 1 2 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. 1 2 3 4 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. 1 2 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. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. 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, Joe Jr. (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. ↑ "https://twitter.com/rtalalay/status/1267260469682683905". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-07-07.{{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  17. ↑ Sage, Alyssa (2016-03-29). "TV News Roundup: 'Legends of Tomorrow' Casts Young Heat Wave, Shark Week Sets Premiere Date". Variety. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  18. ↑ "Home – American Gods S2 Presskit". Starz . Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  19. ↑ "2006 NOMINEES & WINNERS" (PDF). www.leoawards.com. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 11, 2024.
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