David Boreanaz

After fighting his way through two critically acclaimed and fan-loved shows (Buffy, Angel) just to find himself on the losing end of a ratings battle with a soon-to-be merged network, David Boreanaz set his sites on something bigger; a big-four network show.  Flash-forward a few years and he finds himself heading into the fourth season of his hit Bones on Fox.  We sat down with David and through a few questions at him about the show, his future and all that lie between.

SHAKEFIRE: You recently went to England to film the show. Did you get to travel around in any greater degree of anonymity, or are they just as on top of things as over there?

DAVID BOREANAZ: It was a bit chaotic and crazy in London. Just Europe in general for me is a bit kind of hairy, more so there than it is over here in the States in certain areas to walk out your door or go to certain places. There is definitely a following with the show and the presence over there of shooting and knowing that you’re over there and the people coming up and the fans following you around. They were very supportive and very friendly. It did make for crazy moments. I know when I would leave my hotel room or go out for a run, it was a bit nuts. But other than that, it was okay.

SF: Can you talk about the season ahead for Bones and Booth? I mean just give us a taste of what’s coming.

DB: Yes, I mean right off the bat, it’s really focusing on their relationship and how that affects how they solve crimes or how they move forward in whatever case they’re working on. Again, we honor and we really support the character work and that’s what we strive for on the show and which kind of makes us different from other procedurals out there. It is character stuff and we love doing that kind of stuff. We balance it out with the procedural and the case. Again, the characters will get closer and then far away. I know Hart has some ideas for some fantasy episodes and getting the two of them in bed to some extent and how that will happen and what will happen. I think that’s how the fantasy episode will play out as far as that is concerned. It’s just really working on our relationships and really supporting each other and maybe going into Booth’s past a little bit, seeing where he came from and seeing how that affects his relationship with her.

SF: Fantasy, though; how might we see that?

DB: I don’t know. I think that’ll come more and more towards the end of the season rather than the forefront.

SF: It sounds like you’re going to be teasing us a lot.

DB: Well, I mean I think that’s the whole point of the show is the give and take. You want to really give back to the audience what they’re asking for, but at the same time, you have to do it smart without tipping your hat too much. I think the beauty of it is that we’re allowed to do that and put the characters in circumstances that dictate that, even in London. I mean the fact that we’re out and she’s with someone and I’m with another woman, “Inspector Pritchard.” It brings up all this stuff. It brings us closer; I mean farther apart. It puts things in perspective for the characters.

SF: Was the chemistry between you and Emily Deschanel immediate?

DB: Well, they seem to have thought so. When we first did the test, we had one woman in mind for the role and I thought was going to get the role. I went in and read with her and another girl and then Emily too. After Emily tested, and she did her test for the network, they had seen something actually in that test that was very-- something sparked and they were like, “That’s the girl.” So, that happens, obviously. When you see, then you develop it and then you work at it. It’s great to be able to have someone that is-- I’m very fortunate to have somebody who wants to work at it together and that’s what we do.

SF: What do you think draws these characters to each other? What do you think they find sexy about each other?

DB: Well, they’re very much alike in a lot of ways, but they’re also very not alike. So, I think that there’s that little kid inside Booth that she really enjoys because maybe she lost part of that as far as her character is concerned because she is so straight and serious and very literal. So for him to kind of shake that up, I think there’s a part of her that enjoys to see that, but it’s also frustrating because it annoys her at times, but she does the same to me. I think that’s the balance.

SF: In reference to the fantasy episode. Will we see a next step for Bones and Booth in reality?

DB: That evolves. For me to say when that’s going to happen, it’s difficult because what’s the beauty of our show is as we work on each episode and we find moments, that’s where it really evolves because I could say, well, the next episode that we’re shooting next week when we coach, we could find a moment that works. I think the job as an actor is to really bring that to the table because when writers see that or our show writers see that, they get excited about it and they explore that avenue. It’s a moment-to-moment thing for our characters.

SF: Are there any other aspects of Booth that you’d like to see developed more that there are no plans for at this point?

DB: Getting back to his dad and his grandfather maybe just to figure out his family history, where he kind of gets that kind of lethal threat. There’s something lethal about Booth that’s really intriguing to me that we haven’t really seen, a bit of a dark side to him that I really kind of would have enjoyed to exploit this year. I do think he’s the type of guy that can switch on and off pretty quick. If you really get him angry, he can snap and people would fear him pretty easily.

SF: I read somewhere that you might be directing an episode this season. Can you tell us something about that?

DB: Yes. I’m actually directing one. It’ll be over the Thanksgiving break. I don’t know the storyline yet or the breakdown of it. When I do, I’ll let everybody know about it, but I’m looking forward to it and looking forward to putting on a different hat, sure.

SF: Great. Have you done any directing at all?

DB: Yes, I have. I’ve directed in the past, yes.

SF: Oh, good. So, this will be not totally new for you.

DB: Not totally new, but definitely new because it’s a whole new show and a new environment. When you work day in and day out with these guys, it makes it a little bit easier.

SF: I know you and Emily are both producing on this show; what involvement you both are having really in the storylines and suggesting new things for the writers and producers.

DB: Well, again, we bring in a lot of our improvisational moments and character stuff. So, all this character stuff and improvisational stuff that you see is our ideas. It really is a moment of reworking scripts, dialogue and changing some things here or there and going through Hart and telling him about it and saying, “We have an idea for this,” or “We’d like the scene to kind of develop this way rather than this way.” So, it’s really a lot of character stuff and ideas that we have that we implement into the storyline and/or into a script.

SF: Is there any fall out from how Seeley sees himself as an agent from that whole experience because this was someone you saw all the time?

DB: No, not really because I think things will be explained a little bit deeper when Zack comes back for an episode.

SF: Okay. I understand that Grave Digger is making a reappearance.

DB: Yes, that’ll be good. That’s something that we kind of kept open ended. That show was originally shot as a closed show and then they recut the ending and it’s become a fan favorite. So, we should definitely have a visit from him again.