Yesterday, a number of us got to take part in a conference call interview with Bones star Emily Deschanel and Bones creator Hart Hanson. They filled us in on things we can still look forward to this season and were a lot of fun. Here’s the entire transcript of the interview. [You may also be interested in last week's interview with the inspiration for Bones, Kathy Reichs.]
Q: What kind of impact will the final two episodes have on the Booth-Brennan relationship?
Hart Hanson: We had an interesting dilemma this year. We sort of had two big finale type shows this year because we wanted the 100th episode to ring on the Booth-Brennan relationship. Lo and behold, the season finale has to live up to that or at least be as interesting as the 100th. I think we were fairly successful in getting an interesting episode out of our 100th episode. Emily, you’ll have interrupt me if I start to blab too much. I think our season ender, in its own way, has as much impact on the future of the show as the 100th episode did. Was that oblique enough?
Emily Deschanel: I think you said it accurately. “Was it oblique enough?” Yes. We can’t give too much away, you see. What happens in the season finale is as impactful for the relationship as the 100th episode was. There’s a lot to live up to after the 100th episode. I think Hart did a really good job writing the script.
Q: Do you usually hear anything from the fans about the storylines?
Hart Hanson: We definitely hear from our fans. I’ve talked to a few other show runners and I think we have the noisiest, most involved fans if my experience is any indication, and they certainly do not shy away from commenting. I don’t know how everyone feels, but I see that as a very, very positive thing even when I’m getting hollered at.
Emily Deschanel: I think it’s a positive thing too. It means that people care even if they disagree with something. I appreciate people caring so much. But Hart definitely has more experience with the fans directly than I do because he’s a tweeter. Twitters. He’s on Twitter.
Hart Hanson: Be careful there, Emily.
Emily Deschanel: He tweets. He’s twittering. Something. You get a direct line to the fans.
Q: How do you see the evolution of Brennan over the years?
Emily Deschanel: I think you’ve seen through the seasons Brennan opening up a lot more. She’s definitely had a hard time socially with people and knowing what to say and to be sensitive to other people’s feelings and where they’re coming from. That’s one reason why she chose science as a field. and she’s put up a lot of walls — because of being abandoned as a child and what she went through believing her parents were dead or missing as well as her brother leaving her.
I think that the walls are starting to come down. You even see at the end of the season she’s questioning her field — solving murders. It’s a pretty huge thing that she’s even thinking about that because it’s something she’s chosen to escape into. It’s mainly from her relationship with Booth who has opened her up and encouraged her to be more sociable. I guess a higher social intelligence. It was just fun to discover this character learning how to interact with people. I think she’s gotten better. She’s still the same person. She still has difficulty, but she’s making improvements for sure.
Q: Do you anticipate fan reaction to the season finale?
Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s a bit of fun Bones trivia. I am also a fan of House and write a blog about it too. So while I was watching an old episode of House, I noticed a very fun bit of Bones trivia.
The two shows have many things in common. Hart Hanson (creator of Bones) and David Shore (creator of House) regularly have coffee with each other and the sets of th two FOX shows are located next to each other. Not to mention that Stephen Fry, who plays Dr. Gordon Gordon Wyatt is House star Hugh Laurie’s best friend.
So imagine how much fun it was to see two of Bones‘ interns as guest stars in one episode of House. Carla Gallo, who plays Daisy Wick, played the teacher in House episode Act Your Age. And Joel Moore, who plays Fisher, was the strange clinic patient that had to go home to pee in a cup.
Since the episode first aired in 2007, I have to wonder if they helped each other get the gig because they knew each other from Bones, or if Hart & David Shore had something to do with it. Something like this would probably not be a coincidence.
Do any off you know the story? If you do, let us know by leaving a comment!
There’s a bit of disturbing news for Bones fans. It seems that two of our regular interns have been cast in new series pilots. That doesn’t mean 100% that they will leave the show, because the pilots still might not get picked up by the network. And it’s possible that they could do an occasional episode while still on a new show, but not too likely. I’m torn. I don’t want to hope the series fail so they can stay on Bones, but I don’t want them to leave either.
We know that Joel David Moore, who plays Fisher, has been in Avatar…only one of the biggest films of recent months, and he’s got several other movies on his resume. It’s no surprise, then, that he’s been cast in a new NBC pilot. Here’s a bit more info about it:
Nathan vs. Nurture stars Harrington as Nathan, an overachieving heart surgeon who reunites with his biological dad Arthur and underachieving brothers 35 years after his adoption. [Source: Comedy Central]
Hart Hanson sent this message on Twitter telling us:
In “good for them, bad for us” department Bones pal @joeldavidmoore scores a pilot role in “Nathan vs Nurture”. Big congrats big talent. [Source: @HartHanson]
This news is also not too surprising. Carla Gallo, who plays Daisy, has a recurring role in the show Men of a Certain Age while she’s doing the intern gig on Bones. It’s highly unlikely that she could also continue both recurring roles, while doing a new series.
She’s been cast in a new FOX network series called The Station. Here’s more info about that:
Ben Stiller’s company is producing the already buzz-worthy “The Station,” a single-camera comedy about a covert CIA operative and his workmates who are embedded in a South American banana republic and with the task of installing a new dictator. Newcomer Kevin Napier wrote the script and the cast has some comedic heavy hitters: John Goodman, Justin Bartha (“The Hangover”), Rob Huebel (“I Love You Man”), Carla Gallo (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), Jordan Peele (“MadTV”) and Jose Zuniga (“Twilight”). [Source: LA Times]
I’ll update you once there is more news about either of these.
I have a friend with Asperger’s syndrome. It’s a very high-functioning form of autism and it’s more common than you may think. And it’s even possibly closer to home than many Bones fans think.
I have actually wondered if perhaps our favorite forensic anthropologist could have a form of Asperger’s, but didn’t dare bring up the subject to other Bones fans, for fear of being attacked in the comments. But if you or someone you know has Asperger’s, you know it’s not such a big surprise.
Tomorrow night the new drama Parenthood premieres and one of the children is diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. So an article on NJ.com looked into the way that people with autism are dealt with on TV. One of the people they talked to was Hart Hanson, creator of Bones. Here are several paragraphs from the article, but I encourage you to go read it in its entirety:
“Parenthood” is not the first TV show to feature a regular character with the condition — but it’s one of the first to openly acknowledge that. Both physicist Sheldon Cooper played by Jim Parsons on the CBS sitcom “Big Bang Theory” and forensic anthropolgist Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) on the Fox crime drama “Bones” would appear to be classic “Aspies,” as many of those with the condition call themselves. They are smart and focused on subjects they care about, but have great difficulty understanding rules of social interaction that come easily to those around them — all classic Asperger symptoms. “Bones” creator Hart Hanson says he based Brennan in part on an Aspie friend, but the needs of a broadcast network like Fox to get as large an audience as possible meant he couldn’t come out and say that. “If we were on cable, we would have said from the beginning that Brennan has Asperger’s,” Hanson says. “Instead, it being a network, we decided not to label a main character, for good or for bad. But those elements are in there.” Now that “Bones” is an established hit, Hanson has thought about a storyline for next season where Brennan explores the idea that she has Asperger’s. But he shares the concern of the “Big Bang” writers. “We’d have to get it absolutely right,” Hanson says. “If you don’t get it right, you’re damaging people.”
“Parenthood” is not the first TV show to feature a regular character with the condition — but it’s one of the first to openly acknowledge that. Both physicist Sheldon Cooper played by Jim Parsons on the CBS sitcom “Big Bang Theory” and forensic anthropolgist Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) on the Fox crime drama “Bones” would appear to be classic “Aspies,” as many of those with the condition call themselves. They are smart and focused on subjects they care about, but have great difficulty understanding rules of social interaction that come easily to those around them — all classic Asperger symptoms.
“Bones” creator Hart Hanson says he based Brennan in part on an Aspie friend, but the needs of a broadcast network like Fox to get as large an audience as possible meant he couldn’t come out and say that.
“If we were on cable, we would have said from the beginning that Brennan has Asperger’s,” Hanson says. “Instead, it being a network, we decided not to label a main character, for good or for bad. But those elements are in there.”
Now that “Bones” is an established hit, Hanson has thought about a storyline for next season where Brennan explores the idea that she has Asperger’s. But he shares the concern of the “Big Bang” writers.
“We’d have to get it absolutely right,” Hanson says. “If you don’t get it right, you’re damaging people.”
I say that it’s time to address the issue and the character completely. People with Asperger’s are very capable of having good relationships and living rewarding lives. It’s time that TV showed it for what it is.
What are your thoughts about the possibility of Brennan having Asperger’s? Does it make a difference in the way you view the character? Does it help give a better understanding of both Asperger’s and Brennan?
I welcome your respectful comments.
This is a fascinating interview with Bones creator Hart Hanson.In it, the interviewer asked him if we will find out in the 100th episode that Booth & Brennan have already “done it.” What if, when they first met, they were intimate with each other and it caused problems?
Hart is amazingly vague. How can a person say so little, but with so much emphasis? You’ve gotta love him!
We keep hearing from the Powers That Be at Bones that there’s a wedding in the near future. There are five different scenarios, as far as I can see it. TV Guide says that there are only 4 scenarios. Why don’t we take a look at what TV Guide is theorizing and then see if we can wade through the BS to figure out the truth.
Here comes the bride! Bones will host a big wedding in May. “One of the four women in our cast will be getting married,” says exec producer Hart Hanson, who (with a little prodding) narrowed the candidates down to these couples: Booth & Brennan “It would take a lot to get there, but it’s conceivable,” says Hanson. Really? When I was on set, I observed a kiss between David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel—but it was a behind-the-scenes smooch on the cheek celebrating their 100th episode. The only way a wedding could happen is if they were undercover in a wedding chapel or, as costar Tamara Taylor (Camille) says, “in another alternate universe.” After fans rebelled over last season’s dream-sex finale, I doubt they’d play us again. Angela & Hodgins “Angela and Hodgins almost made it down the aisle at the end of the second season. They realized Angela was already married to Berimbau and then broke up,” says Michaela Conlin (Angela). “Although Wendell is turning out to be more than a roll in the hay, Angela is very in love with Hodgins and will eventually end up with him.” I agree and am placing my bets on them! If her character married Wendell, she says, “Fans would probably be upset, and I’d also be a bit bummed.” Daisy & Sweets “These two are a hot-and-heavy couple,” says Hanson. Maybe, but this newbie intern is hardly May sweeps bride material. Camille & Mystery Man “Cam will be meeting a love interest this season,” says Hanson. This comes as welcome news to Tamara. “Cam hasn’t had a date in years, so it will be interesting to see how ungraceful she is falling in love,” Tamara says. “But I don’t think I’m the bride.” [Source: TV Guide]
Here comes the bride! Bones will host a big wedding in May. “One of the four women in our cast will be getting married,” says exec producer Hart Hanson, who (with a little prodding) narrowed the candidates down to these couples:
Booth & Brennan “It would take a lot to get there, but it’s conceivable,” says Hanson. Really? When I was on set, I observed a kiss between David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel—but it was a behind-the-scenes smooch on the cheek celebrating their 100th episode. The only way a wedding could happen is if they were undercover in a wedding chapel or, as costar Tamara Taylor (Camille) says, “in another alternate universe.” After fans rebelled over last season’s dream-sex finale, I doubt they’d play us again.
Angela & Hodgins “Angela and Hodgins almost made it down the aisle at the end of the second season. They realized Angela was already married to Berimbau and then broke up,” says Michaela Conlin (Angela). “Although Wendell is turning out to be more than a roll in the hay, Angela is very in love with Hodgins and will eventually end up with him.” I agree and am placing my bets on them! If her character married Wendell, she says, “Fans would probably be upset, and I’d also be a bit bummed.”
Daisy & Sweets “These two are a hot-and-heavy couple,” says Hanson. Maybe, but this newbie intern is hardly May sweeps bride material.
Camille & Mystery Man “Cam will be meeting a love interest this season,” says Hanson. This comes as welcome news to Tamara. “Cam hasn’t had a date in years, so it will be interesting to see how ungraceful she is falling in love,” Tamara says. “But I don’t think I’m the bride.” [Source: TV Guide]
I was sure that the wedding was going to be Booth’s brother Jared & his fiancee Padme. They are the only couple other than Sweets & Daisy that’s actually a couple right now. And they are actually engaged, with Seeley as their Best Man. I just think that Hart is trying to pull a fast one on us and it’s these two.
I am totally confused if it’s not Jared & Padme. What do you think? Let’s take a poll and leave comments to see what we can figure out together!
Q: T.J. Thyne does it as well and his are very interesting sometimes too.
H. Hanson: Yes, yes, well he’s nuclear powered. He does work half as much as me.
E. Deschanel: He does it. He has many days off.
Q: Hart, I wanted to ask you presumably when you started this five years ago your idea was I have this good source of material and interesting characters. You make a cool sort of crime-based show. When did it sort of turn the corner for you and become – it’s almost more of a character show now I think than it is a show like it used to be.
H. Hanson: My inclination right from the beginning when 20th first came to me and said would you do a forensics show? I said, “No, I’m not your guy to do a forensics show.” They know me. They know where my tastes lie and they said, “No, no, we want your take on it. Which means a character in a humor based take on a forensics show.” I also thought just commercially—from a commercial point of view – that for us to go in just as another forensics show despite the fact that we had the slight difference of it being about bones, it wouldn’t set us apart from the pack. We had to do something where the show was different.
That’s why David and Emily are cast in the show. If we wanted to do a different kind of a show we would not have needed David and Emily. The turn I think, though, if I understand your question correctly, Rick, was that in the second season the promotions department at Fox, at the network, started – do you remember what their motto was –
E. Deschanel: It takes chemistry.
H. Hanson: It takes chemistry, yes.
E. Deschanel: Solving crimes takes chemistry.
H. Hanson: Where they are a separate fiefdom, the promotions people. We have very little effect on what they do. I think that’s a good thing. They just saw where the strengths of the series lie and pushed that and that changed everybody’s mind and all of a sudden everybody was on board for the kind of – the softer take on a forensics show than they had initially been pushing us toward in the first season.
E. Deschanel: Then I think the network saw that and allowed us to do what we wanted to do from the beginning.
H. Hanson: That’s right. That’s right. It became much less of a fight and they went for it.
Q: How do you sort of gauge where to sort of throw in the levity moments when you have a grisly mutilated body and the focus of the case that week?
H. Hanson: Well, we are getting better at knowing what works and what doesn’t work. With the advantage Bones has is that most of the time the remains that Booth and Brennan are standing over – they’re very, very gross but not usually a recognizable human being. You have a bit more luxury with their asides and the humor than you would if it was a recognizable – oh look at that; someone’s mother lying there. That’s a huge reason it works is that – and we actually make the bodies hideous enough that it’s almost funny. It goes over toward the macabre or the grotesque. Then certainly Emily can tell you we cut to what works. They shoot more—David and Emily snap around more than what eventually hits the screen. We just put in the best parts we think, and the parts that work we think, and there’s tons of debate about it in every single episode.
Q: You guys mentioned earlier about being moved around and sort of being in an underdog position in that respect. It’s not the most critically adored show — most critics like it, but it’s not like one of those things that people rave about and stuff like that. Obviously you have a strong following and your audience loves you and you have I think, really great ratings for a Thursday night considering your competition. Can you talk about that a little bit more and sort of how it makes you feel to be sort of ignored but noticed by the right people?
E. Deschanel: Oh, I don’t know. I kind of like it. I think I’m sure it would feel great to be adored by everyone but I don’t think it ever hurts to not feel like anything you do is going to be perfect or something like that. I don’t know, I think it’s good for the ego and the soul not to be adored too much. But it’s nice, we have fans who are so loyal. We’ve built audience over the years, our audience has grown and so many shows they drop.
We have amazing fans who are so loyal to our show, who love it, who – like we’ve discussed before have opinions – very strong opinions about it. I do get feedback on the street from that. We were mentioned by different critics that people like us. I’m happy with the success we’ve had. I don’t feel like I’ve been – that we’re ignored or something like that completely. There are certain shows that people just love.
H. Hanson: We’re not one of the big shiny shows. I’m beginning to wonder if it isn’t because most of us are kind of like that. We’re not really big shiny people. I think David is probably the biggest personality on the show. The guy who would love to be the number one show and at the Emmy’s and be appreciated —
E. Deschanel: Right.
H. Hanson: But most of us are kind of like you know, we’re workaday people who are kind of happy with our show and happy that it gets the acclaim it gets.
Q: Emily, I was wondering what you think is the most challenging or difficult part about playing Temperance?
E. Deschanel: Well, I think a couple things. One is the fact that she does guard her emotions but also making – letting you in to see her emotions here and there. Getting glimpses of her feelings inside and how you do that without compromising her character and balancing that. I think over the years we’ve kind of opened her up at different times more and Hart and I have discussed this and one of the things that’s hard for – the biggest challenge for writing is also for acting is balancing the humor and the drama and it’s the thing that I love the most about the show. We can go from one second – change tones from one second to another. That’s also a challenge but yes, I think those are the two most challenging things about the show.
Q: I’ve been a fan since the first episode. I started watching because of David Boreanaz being a big Angel fan. I love this show and all the characters and everything and I want to know if you’d ever gotten any flack from anyone about having – you’ve tackled a couple of what might be – I don’t know – controversial themes like having atheists and bisexual people on the show. I was wondering if you’d ever gotten any flack for doing that.
E. Deschanel: For the atheist, oh yes.
H. Hanson: Yes, yes we catch flack. We’re politically incorrect. We’re kind of proud of that and again the show lends itself to it because we have some characters who are hyper-rational and are not – led by Brennan—and not led by politeness or subtext or political correctness. It’s kind of fun to go there.
The line I’m still amazed that we got on the air was when Brennan says to Booth, “Jesus is not a zombie.”
E. Deschanel: No, no, I said – I equated Jesus to a zombie.
H. Hanson: Because he rose from the dead after three days Booth says — It’s fun for us and yes we get – yes, yes, there is plenty of response.
E. Deschanel: I think though we balance – we won a diversity award and I always think that’s not just for people of different backgrounds or colors of skin I think it’s presenting many different points of view and we’re pretty fair about that. I don’t say we because you’re the one that writes it, but the show presents many different points of view in a – I think a fair way and a humorous way a lot of times. We’ll have debates about things and people say some outrageous things.
People I’m sure were offended by Brennan saying that Jesus was a zombie but it is –it’s done in a humorous way and I think – I also want to say that when you were saying that we have atheists or bisexual characters, I wouldn’t say that just having those characters on is politically incorrect but the way we’ve maybe dealt with it sometimes people are sensitive to it. I like the fact that we’re presenting different – all different people all different walks of life, different points of view, and I like that in the show.
H. Hanson: Some of my favorite episodes are the ones that deal with religion. Like, you know the trans-gendered preacher was one of my favorite shows. I just like that.
E. Deschanel: Me, too.
H. Hanson: Getting Brennan’s hyper-rational point of view on the confusing issues in the world is just fun and then you clash those with Booth’s very humanistic, very emotional approach to life and we have some fun with that.
Q: I think it’s great and apparently Fox does too because how else can Family Guy have both atheist and bisexual characters? I guess you’ve created a trend. I don’t know.
H. Hanson: Here’s where our egos are huge around here. We think that secretly we’ve started a whole bunch of little trends. I’m thinking Big Bang Theory is because of Emily Deschanel.
E. Deschanel: We made nerd cool first.
H. Hanson: Don’t tell anyone we said that though. [laughs]
Q: I have a question about our local guy, John Francis Daley, …and I was wondering if Brennan and Booth are ever going to give him — Sweets– throw him a bone and tell him he’s right for once or if he’s ever going to get to convince them that he’s right about them?
E. Deschanel: It’s so much fun to tell him he’s wrong though.
H. Hanson: Much of the time what we do is have Booth and Brennan tell Sweets he’s wrong and then the audience sees that Sweets is right.
I think we have out there hanging, the book that he has written about Booth and Brennan and he also knows—he knows what’s going on between them. As they get closer to having to contend with what is actually going on between them Sweets is part of that. I would say, yes he will get his – what’s the good form of comeuppance? His due.
E. Deschanel: His day.
H. Hanson: He’ll get his day. The dog will get his day.
Read Part 1 of the Interview
Finally! Here’s the entire conference call conversation we all had on Friday afternoon with Bones star Emily Deschanel & executive producer Hart Hanson. They are both so friendly and funny, it’s always a true pleasure to talk to them.
It’s also fun to hear them nearly correct each other or finish each other’s sentences. It’s a sign that they must really be friends. The Bones cast and production team must all be very close. They allude to it in the things they say. And it shows in the series they create for us.
Here’s what we all discussed:
Q: Now that they’re kind of tossing around the L word this season – or at least in the premiere – and they seem to really be taking stock of their emotions and how they feel about each other is that going to be an ongoing theme for this season?
H. Hanson: Yes, they’re going to be lesbians.
E. Deschanel: That’s exactly really what I thought of when he said that. Oh, really?
H. Hanson: Yes, they have to wrestle with the emotions that were uncorked in the season finale and then I was going to use the wrong verb – and looked at again in the season opener, the season five opener.
E. Deschanel: But also throughout the season this is something that’s kind of touched upon, debated, discussed, well not that much discussed. But it’s definitely a theme that continues through the season.
H. Hanson: Different characters become aware of the dynamic at different times.
Q: What about Zooey guest starring on the show, which frankly at this point I had started to file under things that are never going to happen, do you have any details yet on her character, the dynamic she’ll have with Brennan, the dynamics she’ll have with Booth, and air date?
H. Hanson: We are looking – we are trying to get Zooey in for the Christmas episode which is episode ten. She will play Brennan’s closest blood relative not counting her dad and her brother that she hasn’t met before.
E. Deschanel: That’s also hoping that something doesn’t happen.
We’ve tried this before and then she has a very busy, unpredictable schedule so something could come up and she’s like, “Sorry, I have to take this job somewhere.” Or she has to go on tour or something. I know she’s excited about it. I was e-mailing with her the other day and so hopefully it will work out, but it’s not confirmed. We’re just saying that’s what she would play if she does it.
H. Hanson: We’re just going to keep trying and one day she is going to be on this show.
Q: I’m wondering how Bones is going to cope with Booth’s changes this season?
H. Hanson: Well, you’re going to have to tune in to watch. That’s part of the story. I can tell you in general she’s going to cope the way she copes with everything in life, which is very irrationally and using her big brain instead of her heart.
E. Deschanel: Her big brain instead – yes. Her tiny heart, it’s barely there. I mean I would say that she definitely is somebody who guards her emotions and – exactly, excuse me, Hart is now patting my back.
H. Hanson: We started getting into the details of it. But you know what we said about from the beginning about Brennan is that she doesn’t lack emotions, quite the contrary she’s extremely emotional she just learned early in her life that things were easier for her if she wrapped her emotions very tightly in an armor of intellect and rationalization. That is – that’s what has to be got through for these two people to get closer. That’s the process we’re going through.
Q: And as far as actually getting them together is it just a fear that if they get together their spark will sort of die?
H. Hanson: I wouldn’t say it’s a fear. It’s – we’re just telling this story in the best way we possibly can in the time we’re guessing that we’re allotted. At the same time a series and a relationship takes on its own momentum so we’re trying to serve two masters, tell the story the best way we can while telling that story at the same rate that it seems to be demanding of itself. Oh boy.
Q: How long do you think we have until we know –
H. Hanson: Well, we know we’ve been ordered for two more seasons.
E. Deschanel: I’m thinking ten.
H. Hanson: Are you thinking ten? Emily’s thinking ten.
E. Deschanel: I just do it one episode at a time.
H. Hanson: Yes. So we’re constantly adjusting what happens when in the best way we can. We don’t want to leave – we don’t want to jump any story and we don’t want to leave any story behind. We just want to tell this story in the best possible way we can, like a series of novels. Each season is like another novel in a series of novels.
Q: Regarding the relationships, not just Booth and Brennan, but Angela and Hodgins, what kind of feedback do you get from viewers? Are they impatient or do they seem to trust you – that you’ll do right by them and the characters before it’s all said and done?
H. Hanson: We get every iteration of what you just said. There is a lot of passion in both directions. I would say nobody is patient. Everybody has a lot to say on it which is all good for us. It’s just good.
E. Deschanel: People always want to know when are Booth and Brennan going to get together, if somebody stops me in the street or something like that. It’s always a question that’s hard to answer.
H. Hanson: I get hollered at on behalf of every single character all the time including Goodman from season one, played by Jonathan Adams.
People still will come up and say, “When is Goodman coming back?” And Cullen, Booth’s boss for a while. We have a very passionate, very vocal audience base. Boy, are they not shy. They holler at me all the time. I’m glad they don’t holler at you.
It’s a great problem to have. The – silence and apathy would be a disaster. I’d rather be hollered at all the time than hear nothing.
E. Deschanel: Agreed.
H. Hanson: I’d rather be hollered at “Oh, you’re a genius, we love you, please keep going.” But that doesn’t happen. [kidding]
Q: Last season Brennan asked Booth to be the father of her child. Now that his feelings have changed for her, will we maybe readdress that question – is any baby stuff coming up?
H. Hanson: Without a doubt we will address that question.
E. Deschanel: Yes, I think you see Brennan with all ready for Booth to be the father of her child but then when all these complications happen it’s – she puts it away for a while.
H. Hanson: I always thought it was telling and a good source of the story that when the possibility of Booth being the father of her child receded somewhat for various reasons, her interest in having a baby also receded. I think that’s just one of the things that’s very telling in that relationship. She doesn’t just want to have a baby, she does not know this, but she wants to have Booth’s baby.
Q: Have you guys met David’s new baby? And how is the family doing?
E. Deschanel: I’ve seen many, many pictures of the baby. She is adorable. No, I mean she’s very young, so it would be inappropriate to bring her to the set. We’re kind of giving them time to bring her out into the world. I look forward to meeting her, she’s adorable and I know they’re just overjoyed with this new addition to their family.
H. Hanson: Certainly David has settled down quite a bit. He’s been a nervous wreck for the month preceding –even longer – the months preceding the baby’s arrival. He’s a whole different guy now. He’s happy and very, very pleased.
Q: You guys are in the same time slot you were in last year. No one is threatening to move you guys to Friday, you know you’re coming back next season already. Does stability feel different?
H. Hanson: Yes. I – how do I say this nicely? I actually – for the first time in many seasons believe the network when they – Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly said we are going to keep you on at 8 p.m., Preston Beckman on Thursdays. I’ve been screaming about that since the beginning because for those who notice such things any time we’ve been in a single time slot for more than two or three episodes our numbers go way up, people find us. Then we move again. Despite the fact that it’s a tough time slot, 8 p.m. on Thursdays, I personally am more pleased for us to be in one place with stability.
As you said every year they’ve said we’re going to move you to Fridays in the winter and that’s always just painful even though everyone is winking when they say it. Yes, stability feels better. I feel like our promos are sharper and more prevalent this year. We have a good feeling about Bones this season from the network.
E. Deschanel: I don’t want to take anything for granted and I think it’s something that we’re always trying to work as hard and harder than we did the last year and it’s – I don’t think because of what we’ve been through none of us take anything for granted. It’s nice that they’ve made that gesture that they’ve kept us in the same time slot, that they’ve picked us up for two seasons. That’s really nice.
H. Hanson: It doesn’t change our work.
E. Deschanel: It doesn’t change our work.
Q: Following up on that though, from this position of stability can you look back at the past few years and see advantages to sort of the chip on the shoulder attitude that you guys have had for a couple of seasons?
H. Hanson: I cannot. As Emily said we tucked in right from the beginning, right from the pilot. It’s a very good company, an excellent crew. It’s not like it kept us sharp or anything what it did was kind of inure us to pain – I would much rather have been where we are now back in the beginning in one slot. It’s sort of the CBS mode of doing things is to stick a show into its slot and let it find an audience. I think that would have served us well.
E. Deschanel: I think – I like the fact though that we’ve never – we’ve always kind of been like the show that just surprises everyone that they move us around all the time and yet our audience will grow and I love the fact that that’s the way our show is and that we weren’t some crazy hit right off the bat. I think we’ve been able to grow naturally and our audience grows while we’re growing. I like that element.
H. Hanson: Maybe you’re right. Maybe it did kind of bring us together like the Little Engine That Could.
E. Deschanel: Right. Our egos would have probably gotten huge if we were in one place and people watched our show from the beginning.
Q: Can you please extend everyone’s congratulations to David and his family for the new baby? Everybody is excited for them.
E. Deschanel: Aw, we will.
H. Hanson: I will do that. People have been twittering that and certainly the response on Searching Bones has been like that so I’ll keep – I’ll tell him you said that.
Q: A lot of people have noticed is that David isn’t dressing the same way in the first episode. He doesn’t have his “cocky” belt buckle and he’s wearing a black tie and socks –what’s up with that? Is that part of the brain tumor thing?
H. Hanson: It is. It is. He’s got to come back in his own inimitable way over a little bit of time.
Q: Do you know if the crossover with Lie to Me is going to still be happening or is that just rumor?
H. Hanson: It’s slightly better than rumor and it’s much less than a fact. I think the fact that here we are going into our fifth season, we’re a machine in a way in terms of generating stories and getting scripts out and Lie to Me is still – they’ve got a new show runner. It’s a lot harder for them. In a way we’re waiting to see if Lie to Me is able to do that. If they are then we have a few ideas. If they are not, we really understand. Retooling a series is like doing the first season again and really those guys have to have their heads down just trying to make their new season and establish their new series. Their first priority is not going to be doing a crossover with us.
Q: Oh, but Lightman would be perfect person to see that Booth was not being honest about his feelings. That would be perfect.
H. Hanson: I’m writing that down. [laughs]
Q: Emily, Hart’s very active on Twitter, will you ever become more active there too?
E. Deschanel: I don’t know. My sister joined recently. It’s one of those things I’m so busy with everything I don’t do Facebook, I don’t do MySpace, FaceMates, I don’t know. I don’t do any of that. It’s just like I have a hard time keeping up with phone calls, e-mails, and texts already so I might consider it in the future. Right now I don’t know, I don’t know why anyone – I don’t know what anyone would care what I’m doing and I’m kind of like what people might care about I don’t really necessarily want to share. So it’s –
H. Hanson: It’s a bit onerous, too I’ve got to tell you— I sit in front of my computer all day, so for me to switch over and do one little thing two or three times a day is nothing.
H. Hanson: You don’t have that. It’s onerous. I did it because Stephen Fry talked me into it.
Continue Reading Part 2
Here’s the entire conversation with Hart Hanson. (I did take out the “hello” and “thank you” parts at the end and beginning of each person’s questions.)
Hart teases us about meeting Booth’s grandfather and gives us a lot of information about why certain people were cast for certain parts. Well, you’ll see, it’s just a fantastic interview:
Q: I have to wonder: Booth’s brother; is that a card you’ve been wanting to play for a while?
H. Hanson: Yes. We were originally going to have Booth’s brother appear in the ill-fated Season 3…ill-fated because of the writer’s strike. We were looking forward to bringing Booth’s family more into Bones in Season 3 toward the end of the season. But, that was one of the decisions we made when we came back for such a short period of time is to let that play out better in Season 4. So yes, we’re excited about it.
Q: Now, is Jared’s primary function to shed light on Booth’s murky background and it’s just a glorious side effect that it might push Bones and Booth together finally?
H. Hanson: Yes, those two and there’s a spark between Brennan and little brother Booth, as is the way things go on Bones. Since she, in her own mind can’t have the older Booth, maybe this younger one is a good…copy. It turns out not to be true, but it gives us some fun with them, but, mostly to shed some light on Booth who was a guarded character for all his… You don’t actually find out much about him. So, it’s another way into that and it’ll be some fun.
Q: I did an interview with Michaela a few days ago. I love her. I thought I’d ask you since you’ve been writing for her, working with her for several years now, what was it that made her stand out for you when you all were casting the part? Does she still have the capacity to impress you and surprise you as an actress today?
H. Hanson: Yes. The answer to part two is that I think– Well, the first thing that appealed to me and the rest of us when we were casting was her– She’s a very experienced actress. So, she has great chops, and she’s obviously extremely beautiful. But, she’s also funny. She has a lot of range. We were looking initially for that best friend who could be a sympathetic ear and she has that in spades, that really warm side to her.
We have found out that she is funnier than we thought as well. Not only has she still got what we were looking for in the first place, but now that we’ve sort of, for the time being at least, split her from Hodgins, she gets to be a little bit more of the free spirit Bohemian that we were after in the first place and she’s just even better at it.
It’s funny you ask that because in the last three or four episodes, in post, we’ve just been saying, “Wow, look at Michaela. Look at Michaela go.” I think she’s really come into her own in the fourth season.
Q: What motivated you to give her…at this time? Is it kind of like thinly veiled male fantasy on your part?
H. Hanson: It could be that, couldn’t it? It was like you get to watch Michaela kiss another really beautiful woman. That’s not the worse thing in the world. But, I don’t think that’s why we did it. We did it to… You want to jolt a series every once in a while and remind people that anything can happen. We wanted to go back… A series of events happened where she broke up with Hodgins. We met her ex-husband. She’s the offspring of a rock star. We just wanted to give a little jolt to the Michaela character, to the Angela character to reset, just reset that anything can go anywhere.
It worked quite well. The actress who was playing her ex-girlfriend, perhaps girlfriend again is Nichole Hiltz and she’s very funny and very warm. Also, if we do this right, and you’ll let us know, it’s not played very prurient. It’s pretty matter of fact. This is who she is. This is who she was for a while and who she could be again. It’s just tossing that salad a little bit.
Q: Could you talk a little bit about what the revolving Zack replacements have done for you guys in the writer’s room this year and sort of being able to do that and how long you think you can play out that gambit?
H. Hanson: Great question. It has been really fun for us, notwithstanding everybody’s deep affection for Eric Millegan and Zack. What it has done for us is we’ve been able to invent a series of characters that make more stuff happen at the lab. It kind of gives “B” stories to the “B” story, to get some character and humor out of the lab. We found this group of people; we found actors that have just been delightful. It’s been amazing for me how good these people have been at coming in and integrating and being on kind of a revolving door.
Initially, I thought, “Oh, we’ll look at four to six people and then pick someone who is great and have them come in.” We have a couple of more ideas now that we’d like to pursue with these grad students. It’s no longer a case, at least in my mind, of finding someone to replace Zack, but, as you say, figuring out how long we can do this and how long it serves the show.
Frankly, our biggest problem now is that some of these people are very good and we could lose them if we don’t book them as recurring characters. And so, it’s a little scary. They’re very good and people are going to see them and snap them up for pilots and things.
But, I think we’ll do this for a while. I can’t say right now how long it will go on, but I think we’d like to do it for a while.
Q: Is there a danger to it becoming sort of a Murphy Brown secretary kind of thing where even the writers become tired of it after a while?
H. Hanson: Oh, yes, absolutely and I think what we would do is… I mean Murphy Brown did it every single week and it was kind of a gag that they pursued. We’re actually not interested in having an infinite number.
For example, a couple of times, some very interesting casting ideas have come to me as to whom we might have come in as an intern and no character suggests itself. They each have to be different. It just can’t be someone with a quirk each week. I think that would become very tiresome. But as long as we’re interested in looking at each one of these people as characters, then it will work for us and hopefully not become a gag that will annoy people.
There are a lot of people watching the show. I don’t mean just audience, but we’ll start to hear from the network, studio, writers, directors, the other actors when that feels old and hopefully we’ll be before the curve. But right now, it still feels like something that everyone is into and interested by.
Q: Let me put you on the spot quickly. If you had to guess, where [in the weekly schedule] do you think you guys [will be] airing, come January?
H. Hanson: Oh, I am not withholding any opinion from you at all. I will tell you I have no idea. I don’t know what their plans are. I know anything is possible. I think not Friday. I’m pretty confident we won’t be on Friday, but I don’t know what they’re going to do with Idol. I don’t know what they’re going to do with Dollhouse. Your guess is as good as mine. For a while, I thought Mondays; they’d put us on Mondays. For a while I thought, “Oh, my God, maybe they’ll,” which I would love, “pair us with House on one of the nights that Idol isn’t on.” But, I don’t even know, I don’t think anyone does – well, they do at the network – when Idol is coming on. That, of course, will change everything.
Q: Let’s go back to the interns actually. I see that Clark is coming back for an episode. Is there any chance that Michael Badalucco will come back? He personally was my favorite intern of the group.
H. Hanson: Wasn’t he great? Yes, we’d like to have him back again. He is on the list of people we would like to have back. He’s really fun. Every once in a while, the feeling you get from the network, although they’re pretty good at not jamming it down your throat, is that they want youth. Then every once in a while you get someone like Michael or Stephen Fry that just turns everyone on their heads.
Yes, we’d like to have him back. It’s a great character to have, the ultimate “Dad.” He’s the middle-aged man who actually does know everything. It could be my own bias there as a middle-aged man. But yes, we’d love to have him back.
Q: Speaking of Zack, I mean it seems like you definitely left the door open for him to return. I’m just wondering; what are your plans for Eric for the rest of the season?
H. Hanson: Well, I don’t want to say too much about it. We’re not done with Zack. Zack is a fun character. We left a big hanging chad with Sweets, that Sweets knows that Zack didn’t do what he is thought to have done. He has a problem, an ethical problem on how to deal with that and we will deal with that. That’s an ideal episode in which to have Millegan come back again; Eric Millegan come back and play Zack again.
I think it’s okay for me to say that I’m looking into Stephen Fry’s availability because I think he would be the ideal person to help Sweets figure out how to deal with that.
But, Zack is still in our minds. His name is hanging up there on the boards in the writer’s room as to what cases he would be useful in, that he could organically fit into. Also, it’s funny how things come up. You realize when Zack wasn’t there every day that he and Hodgins are pretty good friends. They were a pretty good friendship, an Odd Couple friendship on TV that you miss. So, there are those things that mitigate toward him coming back.
Q: My question dips into your crew and the crafts people that put the show together. There’s such amazing hard work and I really notice it, the look of the show. I was curious to know if you were ever tempted to see if Caleb Deschanel was ever available to be a DP on one of your shows or even direct.
H. Hanson: Well, he has directed one show and he was booked for another… First of all, thank you so much for asking about our crew. The show looks great. The show really looks wonderful and we are not one of the highest budgets on television and we look as good as anything else. I mean the difference in budget between us and, say, Fringe – it’s dramatic. It’s because of the crew that we’ve amassed in the last three years. They’re amazing. I’m constantly astounded by the vigor and creativity of our crew.
We have a lot of elements too and I hope it’s sort of seamless to the audience. But, there are a lot of elements in the show that have to be perfect. Just scheduling our show, because of the dead bodies. The dead bodies have to be made. That’s a real skill. And so, they’re not available towards the beginning of the shoot. They’re available more toward the end. We are constantly in shackles as to when we can shoot. We don’t have a lot of flexibility.
The crew does an amazing job and I think people don’t realize how amazing they are because it just looks like good TV, but it is amazing. So, thank you for asking that.
We did have Caleb direct a show. It was “The Glowing Bones” episode back in first season. He got bumped during the strike and we are looking to get everybody who was bumped during the strike back on the show again. It was a lot of fun to have him around, and it was really a lot of fun for our DP Gordon Lonsdale. He was so happy to have Caleb Deschanel there and he was so pleased that Caleb respected his work.
Q: I was curious to know who does the prosthetics. What shop do you use? I mean who does all the prosthetic body work?
H. Hanson: The bodies are done by the Yaghers, Chris and Kevin Yagher, who have been with us right from the beginning. I think we got them because Barry Josephson knew them from feature film world. They are amazing. They’re also the sweetest, most innocent looking guys. They look like nice college boys and they bring us the more horrific things. Their bodies are amazing.
Really, last year; I told the story last year that – I wasn’t kidding. We had a severed head that they made that looked just like the actress. To be funny, I leaned over to pretend I was going to kiss the severed head just to be a funny guy – not that funny – and it made me barf a little bit. It just was so… They’re very, very good.
Continue Reading, Part 2
Read My Conversation With Hart Hanson
I got to take part in a conference call interview with Hart Hanson, the creator of Bones. And I hope you will remember that he actually mentioned Searching Bones in a video interview he did back during the time of the writers’ strike. Well, dear readers, he’s now confirmed for me that he does in fact read this site! If you don’t believe me, be sure to read our conversation below.
Also, I wanted to convey to you just how warm and friendly he is to talk to. He was extremely personable, called each of us by our names and enjoyed making little jokes with us and was laughing (in a totally friendly way) during the entire interview. I felt as if he was someone that would be easy to sit with to share a cup of coffee and have a great conversation about the show and its latest plot twists. I can’t stress enough how nice he is!
Without further ado, here’s what he and I talked about:
L. DeVries: I wanted to thank you for mentioning the site in an interview you did during the writer’s strike.
H. Hanson: It’s a beautiful site.
L. DeVries: Thank you so much.
H. Hanson: I know the actors check in. I certainly look every once in awhile. It’s a very nice site.
L. DeVries: And the readers are such fans, so they will be thrilled that you come and check the site.
H. Hanson: I absolutely do.
L. DeVries: Wonderful. Thanks! I wanted to start by asking one question, to refer back to the Gormogon thing. Can you tell us whether Eric Millegan will be returning as a regular cast member in season four?
H. Hanson: I shouldn’t tell you that. [laughs]
L. DeVries: Darn! There goes my theory. Okay. I’ll move on.
H. Hanson: Let me say this; we haven’t seen the last of Eric Millegan.
L. DeVries: Great. Because he’s wonderful. We all love him.
H. Hanson: Yes. Well, so do we.
L. DeVries: I’ve wanted to ask you this for a long time. What came first, the idea to make a series out of Kathy Reich’s books or the need to find a good idea on which to base a series about an oddly matched investigative team?
H. Hanson: That’s a really good question. I have always been looking for a project that would allow me to do what I get to do on Bones. As in I’ve pitched things similar over the years and I’ve written a couple of pilots that didn’t get done. To be honest – I’ve told this story before – I came to the Bones project because I bailed, I had another project going with the studio and it just wasn’t going to work out and I left them in the lurch. And 20th Century Fox has been very good to me and I felt I owed them a pilot. So they sent me to Barry Josephson because he had optioned actually a two-hour documentary, an A&E documentary on Kathy Reichs. And I did not know her books. If I hadn’t felt beholden to the studio I wouldn’t have done it, because at first blush it looked like they wanted CSI, a forensics show, and that was not going to be my strength.
But as I watched the documentary and felt beholden to 20th, Gary and Dana, that I owed them something for investing in me. So it happened that way. I bent toward the procedural and bent that procedural towards what I liked to do, which is kind of the goofiness and character and humor of Bones, and of course that’s the thing that got made into a pilot, and of course that’s the thing that got on the air. So it was more, sort of like finding David and Emily, it was finding me and this project. I would like to say I did it totally on purpose and had a plan right from the beginning, but really I owed some people.
L. DeVries: Wonderful. We’re so glad you did.
H. Hanson: So am I.
L. DeVries: I’ve read somewhere that you and David Shore from House would be open to a Bones-House crossover somehow, to use Stephen Fry?
H. Hanson: David Shore and I are both Canadians. We knew each other a little bit in Canada. He came down here before I did and then I came out, and our offices on the 20th Century lot are not far from each other. We are great and grand friends, so we talk about these things all the time. I don’t know if that would ever happen. Between our schedules, and more importantly Stephen Fry’s schedule, he is the busiest man on the planet; I don’t know when he sleeps. We would certainly have him being a regular on this show if he were available.
But I know David is very interested in getting Stephen on. And David’s a very, very strong writer. He may not want to borrow someone else’s character to do that. You just never know. But of course, House is a gigantic hit and we are a pretty good hit. It would behoove us to do a crossover, so we would jump at the chance. And there’s something very funny about the idea of having Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, David Boreanaz, and Emily Deschanel in a scene. That’s very appealing to everyone.
L. DeVries: That would be heaven.
H. Hanson: Wouldn’t it be great?
L. DeVries: I would like to say on behalf of my readers, we’d love it.
H. Hanson: So would we. Tell them we’d love it too. I’ll keep bugging David. I see him for coffee about twice a week in the morning. I’ll keep bugging him.