Girls is Lena Dunham’s baby. So how did she come to trust Richard Shepard with her material? Hypable sits down with the director to find out.
When you think of HBO’s Girls, you think of Lena Dunham. She is the face of the series both in front and behind the camera. Writing and directing the material, while also being on camera is a massive undertaking. Enter Richard Shepard.
“I was the first director ever to direct something that Lena had written that she wasn’t directing. She directed all of Girls and Tiny Furniture,” Shepard says of his initial involvement with the series.
In total, Richard went on to direct 12 episodes. These include my personal three favorite Girls episodes, “One Man’s Trash,” “American Bitch,” and “Sit In.” But it is the final season’s episode “American Bitch,” along with “One Man’s Trash,” and “The Panic in Central Park,” that garner the most attention.
“Lena started thinking of certain people for episodes. This is a Jenni [Konner] episode. Or this is a Richard episode,” Shepard mentions. For him, the bottle episodes all fell on his plate. “One Man’s Trash,” the fifth episode of the second season, serves as his gateway.
These, bottle episodes are as much about the setting as they are about the action on the screen. Take “American Bitch” for example. The maze of author Chuck Palmer’s (Matthew Rhys) apartment, gives Hannah and Chuck a maze to navigate, reflecting the many twists, turns, and blockades in their afternoon conversation. You feel as trapped as Hannah does, plotting moves to get out of there.
But in the end, Chuck has the power — he knows the apartment, he knows his position. And Hannah cannot use her fierce arguments to escape him.
My fav behind the scenes foto from @girlsHBO season 6 ep 3. Two booms, two monitors, two actors. Two hander. pic.twitter.com/TmQEeAgulG
— Richard Shepard (@SaltyShep) February 25, 2017
And even though she physically leaves the apartment, Hannah does not escape. Shepard notes, “That last shot of Hannah leaving the apartment was not originally there.” It is a scene where as Hannah walks down the street, a parade of young women march past her confidently into the apartment building. ” I felt it was important to end on that shot,” says Shepard.
When you are working on a project as a guest director, there are bound to be some creative differences. But Girls was a place of “open communication and collaboration,” notes Shepard. “At the end of the day, it’s Lena’s vision. She chooses which ideas to listen to and which ones she doesn’t.”
But his visions for some episodes stuck. Upon receiving the script for “Once Man’s Trash,” Shepard knew immediately where he wanted to film the episode. “I read it and was like, ‘this is my friend’s apartment. I called him up and asked if he would be willing to rent it to HBO for the episode.'” And when the “Panic in Central Park,” landed on his lap, Shepard notes he wanted that one night reunion of Marnie and Charlie to be a dream-like escape. “New York is a place where you can be and do anything. We shot all over the city.”
For his other work, Shepard expands upon why pilots create such an interesting intersection of creativity. “As a director of a pilot, you are involved for the long haul. You see casting, build the world. It’s an exciting place to be.” And Shepard has some notable names on his resume to boot — Ugly Betty (for which he won an Emmy, went on for four seasons), Criminal Minds (which is returning for its thirteenth season this fall), and Rosewood to name a few.
Girls may be done at HBO, but you can relive all of Richard’s work and the entire series. Take a second or third look and note the level of detail in each episode. Sometimes, the work behind the camera is as, if not more, captivating than the sensational elements on the screen.