Deadline: ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Director Hanelle Culpepper On Breaking Barriers And Doing The Work – Guest Column

Two years ago, right about this time, pre-pandemic and pre-BLM summer, I got the call. Alex Kurtzman loved my vision and was entrusting me to guide the return of a beloved hero – Captain Picard. Today, I’m honored to be nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series for the Star Trek: Picard pilot. When I got the job, I didn’t realize that I was the first Black director and first woman director to launch any Star Trek movie or series. Why? It never crossed my mind; I was too busy thinking about the work.

Actor Dawnn Lewis and director Hanelle Culpepper among Star Trek nominations for NAACP Image Awards

The NAACP Image Awards celebrate outstanding Black achievements in film, television, music and literature. The 2021 awards are the 52nd annual awards, and the first in which Star Trek has been nominated, at least since Star Trek: Discovery premiered.

The three awards that Star Trek was nominated for are: Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series (for Hanelle Culpepper from the Star Trek: Picard episode “Remembrance”), Outstanding Animated Series (for Star Trek: Lower Decks), and Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance (Television) (for Dawnn Lewis, also from Star Trek: Lower Decks).

Star Trek: Picard Works Best as a Binge

Picard needed that patient and introspective cinematic style of Culpepper to kick things off.

Kevin Hart & Wesley Snipes To Star As Brothers In ‘True Story’ Netflix Limited Drama Series

Stephen Williams (Watchmen, Lost) will direct and executive produce the first four episodes. Hanelle Culpepper (Star Trek Picard, Kung Fu) will direct the final four episodes.

“Kevin Hart’s career is one defined by courageous creative risks and Wesley Snipes is a legendary talent – together they are truly a dream team,” Newman said. “I am absolutely thrilled to be working with these two. As always, I am grateful to Netflix for their continued support, as well as to Charles Murray, Stephen Williams, and Hanelle Culpepper for their creative partnership.”

In Star Trek: Discovery’s New Future, Franchise History Still Matters

Interestingly, in both Culpepper’s Picard episode “Remembrance” and in Discovery’s “Forget Me Not,” memories, dreams, and events that only take place within the mind literally take center stage. In other words, Culpepper is a director who is experienced with taking stories that occur inside a character’s heads, and then showing us what that might look like.

TrekMovie.com: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Gets Rejoined In “Forget Me Not

“Forget Me Not” is just the kind of solid mid-season Discovery episode you want to have…quiet character beats were well played by director Hanelle Culpepper, without descending into the indulgent melodrama Discovery too often leans on.

The Black Female Narrative in Film: A Retrospective with Kat Graham & Hanelle Culpepper

“…we hope to raise the awareness, not just of the projects themselves, but also of the importance of telling stories of black women with integrity.”

Actor Kat Graham and  filmmaker Hanelle Culpepper  discuss the Black female narrative and black storytellers in film over the period of Hollywood’s history. These are some of their favorite films over time.

Variety: Collaborating With Patrick Stewart, Being Part of the Inaugural ReFrame Rise Class

“I wanted it to feel inspired by where Picard was on his emotional journey. He was living in a vineyard; he felt trapped. So I wanted to have a little bit more of a static frame, and then go handheld once his world is rocked [in the pilot]. We switch to handheld cameras pretty much as much as possible after that. It’s “Star Trek,” we have to get those big, cinematic shots with drones and cranes and stuff, but we always wanted to not forget that it’s really a character-driven series with Picard at the heart.”

AwardsWatch interview about my path to directing and Star Trek: Picard

I said “if I want to be a director, I need to direct!” so I stopped working full-time and embraced that I would be a starving artist and started directing. I remember that day when I stopped working full-time and became a starving artist was April Fool’s Day, and I was like, “ok, hopefully this will pay off and it’s not a sign! I feel like the universe just started opening up once I committed 100% to doing this thing that I wanted to do.”

‘Star Trek: Picard’ Emmy interviews: Patrick Stewart, showrunner Michael Chabon and more

“Picard” is the first “Trek” series in decades to advance the story forward (as opposed to prequels that explore events that took place long before “The Next Generation”), and it has quite an awards legacy to live up to.