An Interview with Director, Gabby Dellal

Roger Crow talks to the co-writer/director of new movie Park Avenue. Gabby Dellal discusses working with Fiona Shaw and Katherine Waterston, as well as helming an episode of Netflix’s psycho killer series ‘You’, and her future plans.

What was the inspiration for the Fiona Shaw character in Park Avenue?
It was partly a grand old lady I met in Central Park in New York, and then i’ve infused her with many other women I know and love.

I guess when Fiona turns up, you point a camera at her and she’s just amazing.
Yes, she’s always fantastic. That’s the case. It’s a collaboration, so if i’m a fantastic director then you get even better results (laughs).

I like Katherine Waterston’s subtlety as well. Sometimes it’s just like an eye movement or whatever.
Yes, she is very subtle, and pretty good.

But there’s a depth to her, and when she gets angry she gets really angry.
Yes, she really does. She’s able to turn it on and off.

Great to see Grease veteran Didi Conn in there as well, and Katherine Waterston’s subtle reference to ‘Frenchie’.
Oh good. I’m so glad you heard it. Yeah, ‘Shut up Frenchie!’ (laughs Gabby).

How emotionally draining was it working on the film?
It was emotionally draining, and also good fun, because Fiona and I said on set, ‘Are you channelling your mother or my mother?’. We had a lot of fun with it, and obviously the very upsetting bits, Fiona performed exquisitely. I lived with them for many months in the editing room, and that was emotionally challenging.

How was it making Park Avenue compared to working on Netflix’s smash thriller saga You?
It’s a whole different thing to making a movie, because you belong to a great big machine which has been well oiled, and you have to fall into their kind of step. But at the same time you get a lot of money to play with. Again, fabulous actors, but it’s a whole different kind of machine, because you step into forever changing shoes with different directors on different episodes. You have to gain the trust of the actors, who quite rightly put you to the test because they’re the constant, and the directors are the moving parts.

And of course with a film like Park Avenue, you can take your time and give characters a chance to breathe, whereas You is more tightly paced.
Yes. The next generation probably don’t have the concentration to accept the longeurs that I like to implicate in Park Avenue. Some cinephiles enjoy it. I always say we accept it in foreign films. Perhaps it’s because we don’t understand the language, and we are reading the text, but we often find it hard in our own language films. It’s like, ‘Ooh, get a move on!’

What are you working on next?
I’m working on two films. One happily is a comedy, and a kind of a Irish caper. That’s a father-daughter story. And one involves a young 16 year old giving birth on a tugboat in a lobster fishing village off the coast of Maine.

Park Avenue is in UK & Irish cinemas 14th November: parkavenuemovie.com
The full version of this interview can be found at podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/nostalgiahhh
Top image: Kristina Loggia