Jonathan Nolan was recently at the 2011 Comic-Con promoting Person of Interest, his new CBS TV show developed with J.J. Abrams. The pilot episode has been well received by test audiences, and the Comic-Con screening generated similar buzz. It combines high-tech crime fighting with classic mystery and action, as well as some cool sci-fi elements thrown in for good measure.
Starring former ‘Lost’ bad guy Michael Emerson and ‘Passion of The Christ’ star Jim Caviezel, the series follows John Reese (Caviezel), as a former elite CIA agent and expertly trained killer who teams up with a shady billionaire and scientist Mr. Finch (Emerson) to help prevent violent crimes.
What makes this concept unique is instead of solving the cases after they happen, they’ve got help from a number crunching server farm that sifts through billions of video surveillance streams and telecommunications to help anticipate crimes. It sounds somewhat like ‘Minority Report’, but foregoing the futuristic setting and submerged telepaths (and probably the cool floating touch screen interface), they’re using complex algorithms that allows them to stop the crimes before they take place.
At the recent Comic-Con Panel for the show, series creator Jonah Nolan and the cast were on hand to talk about what looks to be the next big thing on TV.
Nolan was asked when developing a show or film does he have a specific audience in mind:
I always write with the same audience in mind. The audience is kind of me. I’m basically trying, in anything I’m working on, whether it’s television or film, I’m trying to come up with the film or show that I always wanted to watch. I don’t think you can guess what people will really like. You have to come at it from a more natural place and then kind of hope that your taste is shared by enough people to keep going.
J.J. Abrams is kind of a master of paranoia, Nolan was asked whether ‘Person of Interest’ pursues similar themes:
Absolutely. I’ve always been interested in themes of memory, paranoia, and revenge. With this one we get to explore the ideas of the modern surveillance state and the sort of steady creep of that into everything. You know, when we went to go shoot the pilot in New York we started to realize how many cameras there are and how many ways the government now has for keeping an eye on all of us. It’s kind of getting a little strange. The show has a science-fiction aspect to it, but it’s closer to reality than maybe we think it is sometimes.
Person of Interest begins September 22, 2011.
Watch the Comic-Con Interview panel interview:
Check out the latest promos here:
via: YouTube
Now I\’m like, well duh! Truly thnakufl for your help.