With BONES returning to FOX tonight at 8PM [GlobalTV in Canada] with the first of six brand new episodes, series star David Boreanaz was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to chat it up with reporters about what fans can expect from the rest of the season, why BONES isn’t on the bubble and let’s face it, the one thing every BONES fan is dying to hear about — the aftershock from November’s big kiss.
1. On the creation of Booth as a character.
Well, I was given the pilot. I read the pilot and I created everything that you’re seeing on screen as far as that character is concerned, what you see physically. And it can’t happen without the words, obviously, but as far as the physicalities and as far as the belt buckle, all the stuff that you see is stuff that I brought to that character.
Everything that they told me about the FBI I threw out the door in a lot of ways. I respected it. I went through the idea of it. I took the approach of the military aspect of the guy working for the FBI rather than a guy who came right out of Harvard and he’s a penny loafer and pencil pusher guy who gets kicked around and who is afraid to get his feet wet.
For me, it was more interesting from that angle with the military guy who was a blue collar guy. And from there, everything exploded. So, you know, I highly, highly respect what they do. When it comes to using any kind of firearms or entries into buildings, I don’t mess around with. I do it as cleanly and as professionally as I can the way they would do it. I work with a great guy, Mike Grasso on the show who is with the LAPD who is fantastic so for me, that is very, very authentic to a T, but there is stuff, character stuff that I like to bring.
2. On his favorite things about Booth.
He’s a real blue collar guy which I’ve really embraced. So it’s been an interesting process with him and I embrace my socks because I wear the same socks. I embrace a lot of the stuff he does. Booth is, obviously, a little bit more Catholic than I am and I wish I was more of a practicing Catholic, but I’m not. I guess that would be one thing I dislike about myself sometimes is I’m not very religious.
3. On working with co-star Emily Deschanel.
We work on every episode on the weekends with Ivana Chubbuck, who is an acting coach out in Los Angeles. Her credits are huge and very respected and she helps us find a lot of those moments. We come in pretty much with an improvisational arc, knowing where we are going to add stuff, where we’re going to take things. So, by the time we show up and rehearse, we throw that down so when we’re shooting we just, we kind of throw it all out on the table. All this stuff comes out, but I think that’s the beauty of our relationship and our chemistry is really solid and it’s only getting better.
We did a scene yesterday, which was just so much fun. We really started pushing each other’s buttons and it was fun to have the ability to go there with a co-star who does that with you and also being in the freedom zone of a third season instead of thinking, oh, well, you know, this show has got x amount of years left so I don’t have to really work hard because it’s just a show. It’s quite the opposite because now you have the beauty and the freedom to do stuff as a producer to allow yourself to go to those places that you weren’t allowed to in the first season, which makes the show even better.
4. On Booth and Bones getting together.
The function of the relationship really is the function of the show in a lot of ways. These two characters drive these plot lines; they drive these shows. They put them in circumstances or in areas that they not necessarily wouldn’t think they would be in and it brings them closer together as characters or it pulls them apart.
You know, the kiss, for example, on Christmas. You know, it was a dare and they both knew it was coming and it brought them closer. Obviously, it won’t affect them greatly, but they know that the kiss happened and I think it happened smartly the way they did it. I think, though, we’ll start putting ourselves into those situations and those areas, but we’re not going to go to a place where it’s completely hole nine; we’ll keep teasing and flirting with the audience. I don’t think that’s a problem at all.
5. On how the WGA Strike has affected the show.
I think the whole serial killer story-line was affected and the way we will pretty much wrap that up and how we’ll wrap it up, which is pretty much a part of a two-parter that we shot before the writers’ strike.
We shot a potential season ender, which was a big cliff hanger and very dangerous and detrimental to a character and in the second part we finished that up in a way that I think will keep the audience guessing and we’ll at the same time see how the relationships between these two get better.
There are stories that we wanted to tell that we couldn’t because of only getting six episodes in now and future plans for other episodes, you may see us shooting in a different part of the world, who knows? That might be a possibility.
6. On the subject of shooting in different parts of the world.
I know that there have been some talks about that. I hope that that happens. I’m pretty confident that the trip somewhere will occur for a couple of shows. That’s the exciting part as far as that is concerned. And as far as Stephen Fry is concerned, I know we’d love to have him back on the show because he was great to work with and it was a really great character. And see him even interact with Sweets, if that would be possible it would be great.
7. On BONES constantly being called a ‘bubble show’.
I don’t think the show is on the bubble. It’s a very successful show. We’re a different show; we’re a cult show that strives itself on relationship and we’ve proven if we’re on Wednesday or Tuesday or Friday or even Monday that our fans will follow us. And we pride ourselves on the relationship with this show and we pride ourselves that we’re with a great network and studio with Fox.
8. On BONES constantly shifting around the FOX schedule.
I don’t place the show or tell you where the show should be placed. That’s not my job. My job as an actor is to come in and portray a character and do the best that I can. I can’t get caught up in what time slot it’s at or where they’re moving it to or who it’s paired with. I do know that the shows are of the best quality and I think the best on television as far as a relationship show is concerned I think it’s the best. And if you take these two, the new shows that are coming out, especially these new fresh six shows that are coming and you’ll see the relationship just take off.
Unfortunately we had a writers’ strike that kind of intercepted what I thought was the start of a great, great third season and we’ll finish off a fantastic third season, which we believe there are just unbelievable shows that are going to just expand these characters and this relationship. There is no show out there that has a therapist that has to deal with a couple’s counseling for them to deal with each other in the work force. That’s not on television.
9. On his favorite episode.
I really enjoy anything I do with Emily, obviously, any scenes. As far as one complete episode is concerned I like the Halloween episode this year. It was a lot of fun. I got to play a Nerd. That was fun. I also liked the season opener of season two, which was a lot of fun. I loved the pilot. I mean, that’s the pilot, really; you have to go back to the pilot because that’s like the fresh, new, the possibilities are endless, you know what I’m saying?
10. On possibly directing.
You know, it’s just a great opportunity to embrace and you take that for what it’s worth and have fun with an episode. I don’t know what the episode is going to be like yet. I have a lot of original ideas that I’ve actually pitched to Hart that I kind of would love to be a part of as far as the fruition of an idea and even put my pen to paper and even do some writing.
But those are opportunities you have to take advantage of as an artist if you’re in that position and use it. I mean you’d be foolish not to. I think that if you’re in the medium and you have a possibility or an opportunity to do it then you should go for it. 