BONES star David Boreanaz on Season 10 and the future of the series

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Contributing Writer

Posted: October 9th, 2014 / 09:30 AM

Emily Deschanel as Dr. Temperance Brennan and David Boreanaz as FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth in BONES - Season 10 | ©2014 Fox/Brian Bowen Smith

Fox’s BONES is now in its tenth season, Thursdays at 8 PM. Viewers are pleased that in the first two episodes of the new season FBI Agent Seeley Booth, played by David Boreanaz, has recovered from the personal and professional injuries he received in the Season 9 finale. Booth was shot and incarcerated for killing three law enforcement officers, who were actually armed home invaders, sent as part of a vast conspiracy uncovered by Booth and his partner/wife, forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan, played by Emily Deschanel.

Boreanaz is also a producer on BONES, and has so far directed eight episodes of the series, including the action-packed, guns blazing Season 9 finale. At a party thrown by Fox for the Television Critics Association, Boreanaz talks about his directing – and the possible future of BONES beyond Season 10.

ASSIGNMENT X: The shootout in Booth and Brennan’s home looked like it could have been part of a high-intensity action feature like, say, HEAT. Are you a big Michael Mann fan?

DAVID BOREANAZ: I think that my sense of – well, it’s nothing to do with Michael Mann. I love Michael Mann, but I do think my sense of learning as a director, you can see how I move my cameras around a lot, and I like all the action, so I will continue to do that every year, and with my feature projects. I really like directing a lot.

AX: Are there any directors whose work influenced you in how you went about shooting the sequence?

BOREANAZ: It was such a complex scenario, because we only had really two days to shoot that, which you want to shoot in like six, seven days, because of the safety aspects of it. We were very safe, and I can say that we were very thorough, and that’s time-consuming. So we were under the gun a lot and, with the amount of squibs that we hid in a confined environment, the guy who did our practical special effects said he worked on DIE HARD 2 – this is the most squibs he’s used, more than DIE HARD 2, in a confined space. So we really tore it up and went for it and it was exciting, but it’s hard. Directors – Martin Scorsese has always been my favorite director, and I look at his work in GOODFELLAS and how he moves camera and how he cuts into his shots, and that’s one of my biggest guys that I look at. I think he’s a genius.

AX: Do you know how many episodes you’re directing this season?

BOREANAZ: I’m doing two this year. I’ll do the two-hundredth episode – I don’t know really what it’s about – and I’ll do the last show of this season.

AX: Fox Networks chairman/CEO Peter Rice has said that he hopes BONES will come back beyond this season if the contracts can be worked out. Do you have a reaction to that?

BOREANAZ: It’s funny – I tell Emily, I’m such a creature of working in the moment, so I’m focused on my day’s work on Monday, so everything is in Fox’s court. I’m here to do my job and work – show up, produce the show, direct the show, act in the show and be so fortunate. But that’s really up to Fox to decide what they would like to do.

AX: If everything can be worked out contractually, would you like to keep going to an eleventh season?

BOREANAZ: I think when we cross that bridge, we’ll have to see what happens, but it’s really up to Fox. They have to decide what they want to do. They’re the ultimate people that decide. I mean, someone can say, “I hope it comes back,” but there’s a lot of theory and hope. So I love Peter Rice, I love Fox, I love [Fox Television Group Chairmans/CEOs] Dana [Walden] and Gary [Newman], I met with them through the BUFFY years, through the ANGEL years, through the BONES years, and I’m so excited and happy for them to be actually helping the network and the studio at the same time [Walden and Newman arrived at their current positions this year]. I think it’s smart on a business level and Peter is a very good friend of mine, and when it comes to business, it’s the love of the show and the value of where it is for them. It’s a very valuable show and when that time comes, and when they come to us and if they would like to do something, we’ll see what we do.

AX: Do you have any other projects that we should know about?

BOREANAZ: I’m developing right now and I have three other shows that I’m looking at as far as developing myself personally that I’m developing.

AX: To direct, produce …?

BOREANAZ: To executive-produce and take out to people who are interested in working.

AX: Anything else you’d like to say about BONES right now?

BOREANAZ: It’s a great show. I love it. I mean, I’m excited. I’m excited about Season 10 and what it has to offer, and we’re excited for the fans. We’re really a show that gives back to the fans, because we have the best fans – the best.

Article: TV Review: BONES – Season 10 – “The Lance to the Heart”