David Boreanaz “Bones” Interview - EXCLUSIVE!
By Abbie Bernstein
BONES has its eighth-season finale Monday night, April 29, at 8 PM on Fox. The series stars David Boreanaz as dedicated FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth, who is patriotic, Catholic, a survivor of a violent father and a mother who left the family when Booth was still a boy. Booth solves cases with brilliant, literal-minded, atheist forensic anthropologist Temperance “Bones” Brennan, played by Emily Deschanel. As BONES fans know, despite (or perhaps because of) their very different personalities, Booth and Brennan are deeply in love with one another. They got together romantically at the end of Season Six and now have a toddler daughter, Christine, though the couple are not yet married (Booth has decided to wait until the less conventional Brennan is comfortable enough with the idea to propose to him).
When Boreanaz gets a television role, he sticks with it. He spent three years on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER as Angel, the vampire with a soul, then played the character for another five years as the lead in ANGEL, making a total of eight years in the part. Now Boreanaz is poised to surpass that record as Booth, since BONES has officially been picked up by Fox for a ninth season.
Boreanaz serves as one of BONES’ producers and has directed a number of episodes, to the acclaim of executive producer Hart Hanson, who adapted the television series from novels by Kathy Reichs, herself a forensic anthropologist. “He did an awesome job,” Hanson enthuses about Boreanaz’s direction of the episode “The Bones That Foam” in 2009. Boreanaz has since directed several more BONES episodes, including the milestone hundredth episode “The Parts in the Sum of the Whole” in 2010.
At a party thrown by Fox for the Television Critics Association, Boreanaz takes some time to chat about where BONES is now and where it may be going. “I think I’m going to do the season [eight] finale,” Boreanaz says. “God help me.”
Even though he’s taken time to make some movies during BONES’ hiatus periods, eight years can be a long time to spend with a character. Did Boreanaz have any hesitation about signing on for a ninth?
“I think that where we were professionally with the show,” Boreanaz replies, “what I wanted to do, as far as with Fox and what I wanted to do with the character, [meant that] there were a lot of elements that were involved in order for me to come back for a ninth season and potentially, hopefully, a tenth season. A lot of things had to be aligned and it worked out and I’m happy that we worked out the contract situation, and on top of that, I’m happy that Hart [Hanson] has the show going in a direction that is going to be very surprising and I’m excited about it.”
Having Booth and Brennan as a romantic couple and as parents seems perfectly natural to Boreanaz, who appears totally unconcerned about “the MOONLIGHTING curse,” a theory that shows with sexual tension go downhill once the main characters get together. BONES’ continuing popularity (along with other series like CASTLE, CHUCK, etc.) would seem to disprove this notion, but it is still muttered about in certain circles. Boreanaz says he’s actually looking ahead to what’s next for BONES’ main characters. “I think it’s gotten to a point in what we’re starting to shoot now that there are going to be a lot of questions between the two characters of why they’re not taking that big plunge. I think that’s really going to be examined and we’ll see what happens.”
In real life, Boreanaz and his wife Jaime Bergman are the parents of two young children. Does being a father help the actor play a father, especially when it comes to handling the baby who plays his daughter? “Yeah, of course – I hope so!” he laughs. “I don’t handle the child that much – Emily does more great work with the child. For me, it’s just kind of about laying back and relating to Bones [the character].”
This season, Booth and Brennan have gone undercover at a ballroom dancing competition and simply cut loose and boogied on occasion. Dancing is one of the ways that lets BONES as a series cut loose, Boreanaz says. “I think we’re able to go and do these kind of step out of the box [episodes] with the show and do an undercover show, or do a show that’s got this serious tone to it, and then do a unique show – we’re able to do that, because of the uniqueness of the show and if the fans appreciate it, we’re able to kind of stretch them out that way.” As for his and Deschanel’s dancing styles, Boreanaz opines, “There was that goofy thing, and I think that hers gets a little more goofy, and mine gets a little more structured, I think.”
Is Boreanaz looking to direct projects beyond BONES? “Yeah. Last year I directed some stuff, this year, I’ll direct more things, so yeah, we’ll see.”
As to other acting projects, Boreanaz relates, “I have a small film called OFFICER DOWN [released theatrically in January], so I’m excited about that. Other than that, just the show and there you go.”
What would Boreanaz most like people to know about BONES right now? “That it surprisingly just continues to maintain its worth for character relationships and just love of the game of getting these two to solve crime in their very unique way.”
By Abbie Bernstein
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Abbie Bernstein is an entertainment journalist, fiction author and filmmaker.
