Related: Complete Coverage of TCA Summer Press Tour
Beverly Hills, Calif. — Minority Report, which debuts on Fox Monday, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m., marks the first Steven Spielberg-directed movie to be adapted for television. “No pressure,” said executive producer Kevin Falls Thursday at the show’s TCA summer press tour panel.
Set 10 years after the events of the Tom Cruise-starring 2002 blockbuster film, the Fox series follows a trio of Pre-Cogs — played by Laura Regan, Stark Sands and Nick Zano — who have visions of murders before they occur and the detective (Meagan Good) who helps Sands’ Pre-Cog prevent those murders from occurring.
Darryl Frank, copresident of Spielberg’s Amblin Television production company, said they have gotten many pitches to adapt Minority Report for TV over the years. What spoke to Spielberg about this particular vision, Frank said, was the focus on the pre-cogs — humanizing them and bringing them to life.
Since the film premiered, plenty of TV shows have used advanced investigative tools, said executive producer Fellow EP Max Borenstein. So focusing on the pre-cogs instead of the enforcers, like in the movie, “allows us to dig into the ethical issues," Borenstein said. "If someone sees that future, sees these horrible things, what’s their responsibility to get involved?”
Despite working on films, Spielberg has been heavily involved in the TV series, according to the producers. “Everyone on this stage was handpicked by him,” Frank said, adding that Spielberg also chose the director and DP. Exec producer Justin Falvey said Spielberg would call them between setups of his film Bridge of Spies. Borenstein added that Spielberg sent them a cocktail napkin with sketches of ideas.
Technology is always breaking down, Borenstein said. “In our show, they use all of the tools of future policing, but at same time people will always find ways to hack or get around it. The fun for us is not only conceiving the expanded reach of surveillance but also how people are going to get away from it.”
