Erica Tazel talks ‘Justified’ season 5, training to play Rachel and ending in season 6
The popular FX show Justified is cruising along in season 5 and star Erica Tazel discussed with She Knows her character Rachel and making her look legit.
“We have a great technical adviser named Charlie Almanza who used to be a deputy in the U.S. Marshal service, so he’s been very instrumental in keeping me from looking like a girl with a gun. I just didn’t want to look like a girl with a gun! (laughs).
Tazel didn’t get to do the ride-along she hoped for.
“When I first got the role, I wanted gun training and I wanted to do a ride-along. And I can’t remember if it was because there was an incident here in LA during a ride-along, or if it was something to do with Sept. 11, but they wouldn’t allow that. And then I was like, ‘OK, is there a way I can go to Glynco [the location in Georgia of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center]?’ I wanted to just put myself through the ringer of that, ’cause everyone has a way of walking: A fireman walks a certain way; a dancer walks a certain way; police officers walk a certain way… you know, whatever it is. And I did not want to look like a girl with a gun.
But Glynco had to be shut down to the outside, so I just started working with Charlie and he arranged a bunch of opportunities around the city to go to gun ranges. We started there.”
She recounted the season 4 finale and how it led it to the current situation where the creators decided to focus on the Crowe crime family.
“What that means for Rachel in particular is that you are not going to see her a lot this season. You know, we won’t pick up on any of what was left off last year with her. So it’s going to be a very interesting season — a lot darker this year, a lot more violent. You know, we’ll see who makes it out of Harlan alive this year. (laughs).”
She addressed the announcement that season 6 will be the last.
“We’ve known for a while, so having an official announcement one can sort of plan. Last year, I did a bunch of theater on my break, and it was nice to go back to that. And there are some things I have my eye on this year that my fingers are crossed about. So it’s a little too early to say — that’d be presumptuous at this point — but we’ll see how everything pans out. I’m looking forward to seeing what my next home after Justified will be.”
Check out the full interview as Tazel talks about her career beginnings, working on Law & Order: SVU and more – click HERE