Quentin Tarantino is so selective about the look and feel of the films he directs. He is a complete perfectionist, insisting that every detail is just so. A feature film director gets quite a bit of control over their project, especially if that director is Quentin Tarantino. Television, however, is a different story. So, when I learned that QT once helmed an episode of the long-running medical drama ER, I was more than a little surprised. You can check this one out on Hulu!
The director of any given episode of a television series may get a certain level of creative control. But they answer to the showrunner and they are there to execute on the showrunner’s vision, rather than their own. Despite said creative constraints, the Pulp Fiction helmer did find a way to work some of his signature aesthetic into the series when directing the season one episode “Motherhood.”
In a retrospective interview with The Television Academy, ER star Julianna Marguiles remembers that Tarantino was very detail-oriented during his brief stint on the show and recalls the experience with a level of fondness. She remembers a long shot walking down the hall with sunglasses on. Though she said her character wouldn’t have ever done that, she was happy to acquiesce for the auteur filmmaker. She additionally reveals that Tarantino insisted her character eat a piece of pepperoni pizza on camera, in spite of her vegetarian diet.
As a vegetarian of many years, I recoiled in horror when I read that. There isn’t a viewer on earth who would be taken out of the proceedings if Dr. Hathaway ate a slice of cheese pizza instead of pepperoni. That seems slightly masochistic to me. What say you?
If you’re keen to watch the episode (or the entire series) you can find ER streaming on Hulu as of the publication of this post.
The setup for ER is as follows:
Set in Chicago, this medical drama deals with the personal and professional crises of the doctors in the emergency room at County General Hospital. From the exciting to the mundane, a day in the frantic hospital serves up many interesting dilemmas as well as heartrending choices for everyone on staff.
That’s all we’ve got for you at present. Stay tuned to Dread Central for more anecdotes, asides, and crazy credits as we uncover them. If you’d like to chat more about Quentin Tarantino’s prowess as a filmmaker or the animal welfare benefits of a plant-based diet, hit me up on Threads.
Categorized:News
