How Quentin Tarantino Made Sure His Episode Of ER Wouldn't Be Changed By NBC
Remember when Quentin Tarantino added some indie clout to prestige television when he directed an episode of "ER" back in 1995? The first season of NBC's white-hot hospital drama was wrapping up when Tarantino came on board to helm the penultimate episode titled "Motherhood. In the mid-'90s, we were still part of a monoculture where all of us were binging on the same network shows. "ER" was boasting phenomenal ratings with over 20 million people watching every week, a mind-blowing number for today's world where Fox's "The Masked Singer" is one of TV's biggest hits at a measly 2 million viewers on average.
George Clooney was already cast as the lead in the vampire mashup "From Dusk Till Dawn" when the actor suggested the possibility of Tarantino directing an episode of the hit series. Clooney had become a sudden overnight success (after years of failed TV pilots) as Dr. Ross, the heartthrob doctor on "ER" who could wink to the camera and save a life simultaneously. Tarantino wanted to make sure that no one could meddle with the episode and potentially compromise his signature filmmaking style. Coming off the mammoth success of "Pulp Fiction," the in-demand director had a clever idea to ensure that his vision for "Motherhood" couldn't be changed. A lover of TV from a young age, Tarantino wanted to have total control, especially because Clooney was a friend and "ER" was one of his favorite shows on television at the time.
One take and one ear
Recently, at a virtual reunion on the Stars in the House YouTube page, most of the cast, including George Clooney, reminisced on the show's impact. Julianna Margulies chimed in first about Quentin Tarantino's unique approach to the 1995 episode, revealing just how fast they shot it. "When Quentin Tarantino came to direct us, and he was such a big fan of the show, he only did one take so they didn't have a choice to edit," she explained. Margulies became a household name as nurse Carol Hathaway over the show's multiple seasons, but Tarantino's shooting style was unlike anything they had ever done. Getting only one take to shoot every scene created a breakneck pace that made the cast rehearse their parts over and over again. "We'd do one take and he goes, 'Good, let's move on.' And I said, 'Why are you doing that?' and he said, 'It'll be my cut no matter what!'"
Not only did Tarantino get final cut on the episode because he left no other option, writer-producer Lydia Woodward's script for "Motherhood" contained a few choice references and homages to "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction." Traveling back to 1995 for a second, Entertainment Weekly spoke with Woodward just after the episode aired about the subtle easter eggs found hidden in the episode. For example, a gang member has her ear sliced off, which Woodward said was her "only direct homage" even though she "grossed out the traumas a bit more." One patient is also apparently impaled with a metal rod, referencing Uma Thurman's adrenaline shot to the heart after she snorts some powerful heroin. Most of the characters including Margulies and Sherry Stringfield also wore sunglasses throughout the episode and Stringfield's character, Susan, is seen wearing a Yosemite Sam T-shirt as a nod to the Speed Racer shirt Lance (Eric Stoltz) wears in "Pulp Fiction."
Any hopes of an ER reboot?
In the same EW interview, Lydia Woodward also expected Quentin Tarantino to return to direct another episode. "Quentin wants to do another run. And he has a recurring character in mind for his own cameo role." That, unfortunately, never happened. George Clooney talked about the slim possibility of a reboot during the virtual cast reunion, so maybe we'll see that cameo someday in a special legacy episode if we're lucky. Don't hold your breath, though. "When you look at the show, over so many years, it would be hard to say you could do it at the level that we did it," Clooney said. "It's hard to catch lightning in a bottle again."
10 years later, Tarantino would go on to direct the fifth season finale of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" in the two-part thriller "Grave Danger." In the episode, the character Nick (George Eads) is buried alive in a glass coffin. The ticking-clock formula is used to great effect as the team hurries to save him before time runs out. It's possible that his "CSI" and "ER" episodes could have prepared Tarantino for his episodic segment in the anthology "Four Rooms" starring Tim Roth as a bellhop trying to survive the night in a hotel. That story, "The Man From Hollywood," was a retelling of an "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" episode called "Man for the South" starring Peter Lorre and Steve McQueen, so TV has proven to be just as influential for the auteur filmmaker as cinema.
With the recent announcement that Tarantino will return to the television world with a new 8-part series, it will be interesting to see if he takes what he learned on "ER" and "CSI" to help ignite the small screen once again.