Jim Caviezel (pictiured) stars in "PERSON OF INTEREST," Thursday evenings, (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Eric Liebowitz/CBS ©2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved
“Crazy broad appeal you don’t usually see,” according to CBS execs, referring to the unusually high test ratings for their new futuristic crime drama, Person of Interest.
The series star, Jim Caviezel is playfully introduced as the “critically acclaimed actor and onetime savior, (referring to his overnight success as the name character in The Last Temptation of Christ)” from CBS publicist, Lana Kim.
While Caviezel is undoubtedly a part of the show’s power, the concept and the way the script handles its story is evidently an idea whose time has come.
Person of Interest is about a Big Brother computer that can foresee people who will be connected to violent crimes. Problem is that it cannot distinguish between the killer, victim or eyewitness to the murder, much less the murder’s location or time. R.E.D. CIA agent John Reese (Jim Caviezel) is hired to figure out the computer’s riddles and intervene before the murder happens.
Intriguing idea, but great stories made into terrible films are Hollywood legends. This time Exec Producer Jonathon Nolan, himself a master scriptwriter ( Momento, The Prestige, The Dark Knight) genied with the script until he got Person of Interest right for a wide range of critics and an even larger audience.
Caviezel begins with his thoughts about the deep John Reese character. “Well, simply former special forces CIA on the surface, but deep down, a guy who is searching for a purpose, and Finch (Michael Emerson, who plays the mysterious gazillionaire who invents the psychic computer) seems to offer that, and I think that purpose probably is justice,” Caviezel says. “People often say person of interest, but I like to think of it as people of interest. The thing about the material is that we all have a value out there, and I think that that is gonna hit ‑‑ like it hit me, it’s gonna hit other people but there’s something more than just all the technology out there, and a story.”
Person of Interest‘s 1984-ish future society include spying video cameras everywhere. Caviezel comments on the program’s use of spy cam POVs in long shots, where many city pedestrians, not aware that a TV show was being shot, reacted. “When I’m beating up people in the middle of the streets, a lot of the New Yorkers think, ‘Look at that guy beating that guy up in the middle of the street,’ Caviezel says with what may be a smile. “Some of them actually come over and want to take a swing at me for doing it.”
“Do you plan to bring something special to it?” an interviewer asks in a serious tone. “Well, I’m trying,” Caviezel says, like President John Kennedy in one of his quirky press conferences, and even the stone-faced journalists can’t hide their smiles.
Person of Interest debuts tonight (Thursday) 9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT on CBS.
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