Eli Roth to Write and Direct 'Heroes: Origins'

While you might expect to see Heroes coverage over at our sister site TV Squad, this falls into Cinematical's zone of influence because Eli Roth -- director of Cabin Fever, both of the Hostel movies and the fake trailer for Thanksgiving from Grindhouse -- is making a presumably temporary jump to the small screen. Heroes, of course, is the hit NBC series set in a world in which a handful of people suddenly find themselves gifted (or cursed) with super human abilities like flight, telepathy, mind control, etc. The spin-off series Heroes: Origins is a vehicle for introducing new characters as they discover their powers.

Roth will both write and direct an episode of Origins. The more I think about this, the more I think that if Roth had been brought on board for Heroes the first season, he would have been a natural for the episode in which Claire Bennett, the cheerleader with healing powers played by Hayden Panetierre, wakes up in the middle of her own autopsy and has to manually close the incision in her chest. Sounds like a classic Roth moment to me.

The show seems to be on a quest to put some big names behind the camera. Quentin Tarantino stated recently that he wasn't interested in directing an episode of the regular series, but Kevin Smith is on board to direct and Michael Dougherty, screenwriter for X2: X-Men United and Superman Returns will be penning an episode of Origins as well. I got hooked on Heroes right at the beginning and I'm curious to see what Roth and these others bring to the show. What about you?