Tarantino bloodying 'CSI' team
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Call it "Kill Gil."
Quentin Tarantino has signed to direct the season-finale episode of primetime's most-watched series, CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Tarantino also has come up with an original story for the episode, which is expected to shoot in early April and air May 19, according to "CSI" executive producer Carol Mendelsohn.
Tarantino has long been a fan of the stylish forensic drama as series creator/executive producer Anthony Zuiker learned when he bumped into Tarantino at an awards show during "CSI's" first season. They have pursued him to direct an episode for some time, and after members of the "CSI" crew ran into Tarantino a few weeks ago while the show was doing some location shooting in Las Vegas, the stars finally aligned for him to helm the show's fifth-season closer, Mendelsohn said.
"He knows everything there is to know about 'CSI,' and he is into the whole mythology of 'CSI,' " Mendelsohn said. "Quentin came in a couple of weeks ago. We had a story meeting with the writers. He had a great idea, and it was so much fun to have him in the room. ... We are positively giddy."
Zuiker, in particular, "worships Quentin," she added.
Mendelsohn said the story will involve a plot that finds one of the key members of the CSI team, led by Gil Grissom (William Petersen), in serious jeopardy. The teleplay will be penned by Mendelsohn, Zuiker and Naren Shankar.
"There will be more bugs and blood this time," Mendelsohn joked.
Tarantino CSI Begins Filming
LOS ANGELES: Quentin Tarantino has begun filming the season five finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which is set to air on CBS and CTV on May 19.
Filming began earlier this week at Santa Clarita Studios in California. The episode will also be shot on location in Las Vegas. Tarantino, whose credits include Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, came up with the idea for the episode, in which the life of one of the CSI team members is put in danger. The episode was penned by Anthony Zuiker, the creator/executive producer of CSI, Carol Mendelsohn, executive producer/showrunner, and Naren Shankar, executive producer.
Tarantino's involvement came about after he met Zuiker at an awards show and expressed his love of the show. The CSI producers and cast then persuaded him to come on board for the finale.
"When he came in to talk to us, he told us this story about how he felt he had discovered the show when it first came on the air and he was an instant fan," said Mendelsohn. "I mean, there's Quentin Tarantino in our writers' room. And he loves television É. He's watched every TV movie, every TV show and he pitched out the first idea and we said, 'You don't have to go any further. It's a great idea.'"
The episode will have more bugs and blood than usual, and Shankar notes, "It is much more of a thriller than we normally do."
This is not Tarantino's first foray into TV. In 1995 he directed an episode of ER and in 2002 and 2004 he appeared as a guest on Alias.
Quote from: MacGuffinThis is not Tarantino's first foray into TV. In 1995 he directed an episode of ER and in 2002 and 2004 he appeared as a guest on Alias.
and will soon be seen as the center square.
Quote from: PubrickQuote from: MacGuffinThis is not Tarantino's first foray into TV. In 1995 he directed an episode of ER and in 2002 and 2004 he appeared as a guest on Alias.
and will soon be seen as the center square.
He'll be
all the squares.
CSI Tarantino Episode Details
Source: CSI Archives
In the episode, main character Nick Stokes is kidnapped by someone with an apparent grudge against the CSIs. By the time he wakes up again, he's trapped in a coffin, together with his loaded handgun and a tape recorder with a message telling him it's probably best to kill himself, as he's going to die anyway. There's also a webcam in the coffin, which transmits an image back to the CSI lab, allowing his colleagues to see him slowly suffocate - but not providing any clues as to his whereabouts.
'Grave Danger' was written by CSI showrunner Carol Mendelsohn, CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, and executive producer Naren Shankar, based on a story by Quentin Tarantino. The episode is scheduled to air on Wednesday the 19th of May. More plot information can be found at the following URL:
http://www.csifiles.com/news/210405_01.shtml
now, did they write the coffin thing in after they knew tarantino was directing? or is he just drawn to repeating himself? plus, that scene was stolen from The Vanishing and it was like the best part of vol. 2. :yabbse-undecided:
Quote from: themodernage02CSI Tarantino Episode Details
Source: CSI Archives
In the episode, main character Nick Stokes is kidnapped by someone with an apparent grudge against the CSIs. By the time he wakes up again, he's trapped in a coffin, together with his loaded handgun and a tape recorder with a message telling him it's probably best to kill himself, as he's going to die anyway. There's also a webcam in the coffin, which transmits an image back to the CSI lab, allowing his colleagues to see him slowly suffocate - but not providing any clues as to his whereabouts.
'Grave Danger' was written by CSI showrunner Carol Mendelsohn, CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, and executive producer Naren Shankar, based on a story by Quentin Tarantino. The episode is scheduled to air on Wednesday the 19th of May. More plot information can be found at the following URL:
http://www.csifiles.com/news/210405_01.shtml
now, did they write the coffin thing in after they knew tarantino was directing? or is he just drawn to repeating himself? plus, that scene was stolen from The Vanishing and it was like the best part of vol. 2. :yabbse-undecided:
Sounds like a great idea but yeah, it does seem awefully familiar.
Quote from: themodernage02
now, did they write the coffin thing in after they knew tarantino was directing? or is he just drawn to repeating himself? plus, that scene was stolen from The Vanishing and it was like the best part of vol. 2. :yabbse-undecided:
And not the original Vanishing, the remake.... :?
And that piece of shit called "Saw" This sounds like something from that.
my friend was there for part for the shooting...she met QT, said he was nice, looked a bit ridiculous, loud, just a touch annoying.
Quentin Tarantino on Directing CSI Finale
Source: CBS April 25, 2005
"Grave Danger," the two hour season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, will be broadcast Thursday, May 19 (8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. In the episode, the CSIs are in a desperate race against time to save a member of their team who has been kidnapped and buried alive.
Without revealing too much about the storyline in order to keep it a surprise for viewers, the series' cast members and producers, as well as Quentin Tarantino, who directed and developed the story for the season finale, have this to say about this not-to-be-missed season finale:
"It's a thriller that involves us [the team] in the crime that's committed against one of our own, and we have to rally against the clock to save a life." -- William Petersen (Gil Grissom) on the season finale storyline.
"There's just too much good stuff in there to try and slam it into 44 minutes with commercials." -- William Petersen (Gil Grissom) on making the season finale a two-hour episode.
"I think his [Tarantino's] filmmaking style lends itself really well to CSI's in that, obviously, there's an enormous amount of close-ups, and it's a very visual show." -- Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows) on Tarantino directing the season finale.
"I think that watching him work and seeing the shots that he's calling and the shots that he's choosing and what he's doing, I know that what we can expect is something very Tarantino-esque, in the way that he's really attentive to detail and he makes you sit there and stay glued to your seat during his films, and that's exactly what's going to happen in our show." -- Gary Dourdan (Warrick Brown) on what viewers can expect from the season finale.
"I think that over the years, if any fan has felt like they've gotten to know the characters, now they're really gonna get to know them even better… We're gonna take the next step in our relationship with our audience." -- George Eads (Nick Stokes) on what fans can expect from the season finale.
"...I was really surprised at how emotional it [the episode] was. I mean, you read it, and it's intense, and it's action oriented and it's exciting… There were a couple of times I just had to sort of like not cry, and I didn't ever imagine that I would get like that…" -- Jorja Fox (Sara Sidle) on the season finale script.
"Quentin's put his kind of musical stamp on the episode by picking a really good, kind of poppy, old classic hit by The Turtles… That's the kind of thing you'd expect from him, a really good soundtrack, and something really catchy and that'll kind of haunt you, and this is definitely one of those songs." -- Eric Szmanda (Greg Sanders) on the season finale music.
"Quentin has used his filmic vocabulary to authenticate the Vegas environment and keeps the show provocative with characters that are iconoclastic Vegas personas… grungy couriers, old west lawyers, showbiz legends… His deft balancing of tangential reality with the gravity of the main story, in real time, is the essence of his style. -- Paul Guilfoyle (Captain Jim Brass) on Tarantino's style in the season finale.
"There's a time element to this episode, and if you watch the first 10 seconds, you're going to be with us 'til the end of it, because someone that you care about is in grave danger." -- Robert David Hall (Dr. Robbins) on the season finale suspense.
"They can expect the unexpected, they can expect great visuals. It's a thriller. Your heart will stop… Every time you think you're zigging, you're zagging in a Quentin Tarantino finale." -- Carol Mendelsohn (Executive Producer, Writer) on what viewers can expect from the season finale.
"One of our own is in trouble… I think the most important thing is you really get a chance to learn a little bit about all of our characters… It's the "Quentin-sential" ticking clock, if you will, and it really shows the family of our CSI team get together for one common cause." -- Anthony Zuiker (Creator, Executive Producer, Writer) on the CSI team coming together in the season finale.
"This is a thriller, it's a flat out thriller. A CSI is grabbed up from a crime scene and our people have to pull him out, and it's tense, and it's taut and it really is a CSI action movie." -- Naren Shankar (Executive Producer, Writer) on how the season finale is like a movie.
"I'm a big fan of the show, and so like I know like the backstory of all the characters and everything… it's great to meet them and work with them and I know their characters really, really well, and I know these sets from watching the show and stuff, so I feel strangely comfortable even though I haven't been here before." -- Quentin Tarantino (Director) on directing the season finale of a show of which he's a big fan.
"…something I really like about this episode is… it's very story-oriented. It plays sort of, you know, not to be too grandiose, but it plays like a movie." -- Quentin Tarantino (Director) on his love for the type of episodic storytelling that is being used in the season finale of CSI.
Quote from: themodernage02now, did they write the coffin thing in after they knew tarantino was directing? or is he just drawn to repeating himself? plus, that scene was stolen from The Vanishing and it was like the best part of vol. 2. :yabbse-undecided:
In Alias, they left Sydney with her cell phone. She used the screen display as her flashlight.
Quote from: MacGuffinShe used the screen display as her flashlight.
yeah, but everyone does that.
On Conan last night, QT said the episode was based on this TV movie he saw as a kid:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068875/
Tarantino Directs 'CSI' Season Finale
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Unlike criminal investigator Nick Stokes, who's buried alive in the "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" season finale, Quentin Tarantino didn't feel at all trapped by working within the confines of network television.
"It wasn't a challenge in that regard because ... I like the show," says Tarantino, who conceived and directed the episode. "I just wanted to do my episode of it. So the format was all the stuff I embrace. I just wanted it to be bigger, to feel in someway like a `CSI' movie."
TV's top-rated program concludes its fifth season Thursday (8 p.m. Eastern) with Tarantino's two-hour "Grave Danger," subtitled Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 in homage to his most recent feature project, "Kill Bill," released in two parts.
Tarantino, who rose to auteur prominence with 1994's audacious "Pulp Fiction," has seen every episode of "CSI" — many watched while shooting "Kill Bill" in Beijing, where he says the series played on "what was called the Adrenaline Channel" at 6 p.m. on Sunday — his day off.
Like much of the "CSI" audience, he's "fascinated by the whole forensic thing." And head criminologist Gil Grissom (William Petersen) is his favorite TV character — "the best detective to come along since Columbo."
Tarantino's unabashed admiration for the series led to his doing this season's last show.
"Word spread like wildfire that Quentin Tarantino was watching and we all took such pride in that, and eventually we started to think if he's such a big fan, why don't we ask him to write and direct a show," says executive producer/writer Carol Mendelsohn.
Petersen called the filmmaker, who immediately accepted. Working with the show's writing team, Tarantino came up with a script that originally was supposed to be one hour. But as filming started, it became clear there was enough material to fill two.
George Eads, who plays Stokes, says Tarantino's presence on the set energized cast and crew alike.
"So when Quentin came on that set, everybody had a little pep in their step, excited to be at work," he recalls. "They were laughing and smiling. They loved being there and after five years, it was like the adrenaline shot that was in `Pulp Fiction' that the girl got in the chest. That was exactly what our set needed."
Mendelsohn describes Tarantino's mood while shooting as "pure joy. There's nothing he would rather be doing ... and when you see him bring such wide-eyed enthusiasm and energy and love for his job, you just say `I know why I do this!'"
Veteran character actor John Saxon, picked by Tarantino to guest-star as the criminal mastermind in the finale, also was taken with the director's spirit.
"He's so overwhelming enthusiastic. I think it really is one of his great strengths," Saxon says.
Tarantino says he chose Saxon because his favorite episodes of "CSI" have Grissom "matching wits with another mastermind ... I needed a big sequence in the middle with him and Grissom facing each other like (Robert) DeNiro and (Al) Pacino in the middle of `Heat.' I needed an actor who could really hold his own against Billy (Petersen) in that kind of situation and John Saxon is the only actor to ever steal a movie from Marlon Brando," a reference to the 1966 Western "The Appaloosa."
Any one of the criminal investigation team could have been chosen to be the buried-alive victim, but Mendelsohn gave the job to Eads because "I didn't think anyone had more raw emotion inside of them at this point than George. I felt that he had something that needed to come out."
Tarantino couldn't agree more.
"It was just kind of perfect for this character, where he falls in the surrogate family," the director says. "He's kind of the bastard stepchild. Grissom has never really given it to him 100 percent — they did an episode at one point about that — so it was perfect to see him now as the son who has never quite got the attention, but now they maybe are going to lose him and they realize how valuable he is."
Tarantino, who guest-directed a scene for the lurid feature "Sin City," says he had few problems staying within the bounds of CBS' censors. "I wasn't trying to have them (the cast) cuss," he laughs, "and the show's pretty far out there anyway."
But as graphic as regular "CSI" episodes can be, Tarantino — who directed an episode of NBC's "ER" in 1995 — says he created one scene "so gory I think we are going to have to show it in black and white. But it's a hallucination sequence, so it will work kind of well like that."
"so gory I think we are going to have to show it in black and white."
he truly is out of ideas.
even though i've never seen ONE second of ONE episode of this show, the tivo is set. :yabbse-thumbup:
Pretty good. I've never seen CSI before so I don't know how much of it was typical. It got pretty repetitive towards the end, and there was some stuff that was uber QT.
It definetly had QT's signature dialogue. However, I don't think he had as much control of the tone because of the show's tenure. It felt like driving someone elses car, ya know? You can drive it around and take it in different directions but it still smells like another person and you've got to deal with existing defects. The actors seemed out of place at times. Overall though, it was pretty ok. The fire ants were a nice touch. What was up with the autopsy scene though? That seemed really unnecessary.
30 mil watch CBS for 'CSI' finale Thurs.
CBS went into the Nielsen stratosphere Thursday with more than 30 million viewers turning out two-hour fifth season finale of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" directed by Quentin Tarantino. The "CSI" landslide made it an uphill climb for the 9 p.m. finale of NBC's "The Apprentice," which brought in 13.7 million viewers and 6.1 rating/15 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research. The 8-10 p.m. airing of "CSI" averaged 30.1 million viewers and 10.4/28 in the key demo; viewership peaked in the final half-hour at 35.1 million viewers and 12.8/30 in the demo.
i would still hav watched the apprentice.
csi rules. it's not usually like that episode. that episode was more like an episode of without a trace. it was good, but i could've done w/o the trademark qt references, like the dukes of hazzard board game or the roy rogers reference (although grissom delivered the roy rogers material well). also, tony curtis and the late frank gorshin. nice touch, qt. nice touch.
QT nominated for CSI at Emmy Awards
Quentin Tarantino has been nominated for the Emmy Award, an award for TV, for his direction of the CSI Episode "Grave Danger" which ran on CBS. Tarantino is nominated in the category Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series and competes with 6 other directors in that category.
Talkative Tarantino thrilled about Emmy nomination
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - You don't interview Quentin Tarantino so much as attempt to regulate him.
This was clear from a phone conversation last week pegged to his announced Emmy nomination for drama series directing on the harrowing two-hour "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" season finale.
But as is apparently the case with any Tarantino chat, it veered all over the map, touching on Roy Rogers and Trigger, Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock, Little Joe and "Xena: Warrior Princess." He also gave credit to legendary serials director William Witney -- who died in 2002 but remains one of Tarantino's heroes -- for inspiring him to work on "CSI."
"Witney did some of the best 'Bonanzas' and 'Wagon Trains' ever," Tarantino exulted. "By doing 'CSI,' I walked into Witney's territory. I did it partly as an homage to him."
"CSI" wasn't the first TV experience for the director of "Reservoir Dogs," "Pulp Fiction" (for which he and Roger Avary won screenplay Oscars), "Jackie Brown" and "Kill Bill-Vol. 1" and "Vol. 2." He also presided over an episode of "ER" 10 years ago. To Tarantino, however, it felt like the first time all over again.
"I wanted to make the 'CSI' feel like a movie, but it was also important that I not take more time than any other director," said Tarantino, who also came up with the story idea. "TV is a lot precious about stuff. In a series, if you like the first take, that's it, move on. It's also such a different dynamic to be working with actors who have been playing the same characters for five years and know them inside-out."
He was surprised that his input was welcomed so readily.
"I'd see the script for a scene and I'd take it, do some rewriting and kind of sheepishly sneak it back in. Then they'd be really excited to have me rewriting. That was, like, their game plan all along."
"Grave Danger" actually started out as a typical "CSI" hour but evolved into a two-hour episode when the footage started running long.
"I hadn't even known that was an option," Tarantino admitted. "Then everyone started sounding concerned as to whether we'd have enough material to fill it. And I'm like, 'Hey guys, I'm Quentin Tarantino. Undershooting has never been my problem."'
Tarantino had such a good experience with the "CSI" folks that he's already plotting his return trip to television. He hopes to put together a limited-run series where he writes and directs all of the episodes, "like one big arc/novel. Maybe around 12 episodes. I'm gonna look into that next year."
As for the Emmy nomination, Tarantino said he was "so tickled, I can't tell you. It means a whole lot because the people who do the nominations could have held who I am against me. They could have been like, 'Oh, look at the big film guy, stooping to do TV.' But it wasn't like that. I have so much respect for the TV directors. I actually follow the work of them, like the Dean Parisots and the Sutton Roleys. The fact it was the TV guys who nominated me is just huge."
It happens that Tarantino is nominated in an especially tough and competitive year when there are seven nominees in the drama directing category. But he still holds out hopes of winning and, in fact, has to be seen as the favorite, considering who he is.
"Hey, I'd love to win," he said, "but I'm going up against people like J.J. Abrams and his show 'Lost.' He is so The Man in TV right now. So I'm clearly not a lock. But damn, I'm just so honored to even have a shot at it. I have to think William Witney would be proud."
Winners of the 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced Sept. 18 during a ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium.
Quote from: MacGuffin"Hey, I'd love to win," he said, "but I'm going up against people like J.J. Abrams and his show 'Lost.' He is so The Man in TV right now.
He's not only The Man, he's The Winner.
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Quentin Tarantino and Marg Helgenberger announce the award for Outstanding Made for TV Movie -- "Warm Springs"