Rachel Talalay

Sherlock and Doctor Who director has her heart set on a Marvel character

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Sherlock and Doctor Who director Rachel Talalay has spoken of her “strong vision” for another female-led superhero movie.

It is now 20 years since the release of her own comic-book movie, Tank Girl. However, Rachel Talalay is not convinced the success of Wonder Woman will lead to more opportunities for female directors to take on big projects.

“The question will be how many female-driven superhero movies and how many female-driven projects will be developed now?” she wondered in an interview with Vice.

“Will people see [Wonder Woman] as an anomaly? I think they will. I think our battle is only one percent won by the fact that it was successful.”

While there has been a noted backlash against the DC heroine from certain – largely male – fans, she generally sees the positive side of fandom. That is, of course, something she has experienced more than her fair share of while working on Doctor Who and Sherlock.

“Fandoms are capable of being the most embracing, positive influences in people’s lives,” she asserts. “People find friendships and common ground through fandoms, and that’s where the internet is so positive. I want to open the world up to more inclusivity, and part of that is letting women tell stories. I’m stupidly optimistic, even in this weird political time, that there are a lot of unbelievably amazing people in the world who embrace this.”

Though she denies ever talking to anyone about it, the director was at one point linked to the upcoming Captain Marvel movie. That will now be directed by a male/female duo: Anna Boden (Billions) and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson). However, it seems that another Marvel hero is more her thing:

“I have such a strong vision of what She-Hulk should be. The difference between She-Hulk and Hulk is that she loved being She-Hulk. She was the Tank Girl of earlier days in terms of being able to say what she wanted, and when she became She-Hulk, it was like an opening of the door to freedom, to be the person that you wish you could be. That you’re stopped from being as a woman. And that’s the version of She-Hulk that I would love to embrace.”

Now that, we’d like to see.

Rachel Talalay has directed the two-part finale to the current season 10 run of Doctor Who, which will air on June 24th and July 1st. She will also direct the upcoming Christmas special – the final appearance of Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, and Steven Moffat’s final episode in charge of the show.