LOS ANGELES - 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, 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.
"There will be more bugs and blood this time," Mendelsohn joked.
Tarantino, who earned an Oscar for co-writing the screenplay to his 1994 smash "Pulp Fiction," directed a 1995 episode of "ER" and appeared as a guest actor on ABC's "Alias" in 2002 and last year. His other features include the "Kill Bill" films, "Jackie Brown" and "Reservoir Dogs."
- REUTERS/HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
