David Boreanaz

Q: Emily, I want to ask you, did you have to go through some kind of training, special training for the role?

Emily Deschanel: Well, Mike Grasso taught me how to shoot a bit before we did the pilot. The martial arts that I do - I’ve been training with a martial arts master. I used to do karate in college. I was on the karate team. But I hadn’t done it in a while. In terms of forensics, I’ve been reading a lot of forensics books and we had Kathy on set and so we got to really talk to her and ask her Qs and pick her brain about what she does. Yeah, there are several different areas of training that I did for the show.

Q: Were any of you fans of Ms. Reichs’ work before you got this job?

David Boreanaz: I didn’t read any of her books. I have some of them. I mean, for me, I personally am kind of sticking towards the correct attitude of what it’s like to walk the fine line of potentially having a ’69 Chevelle with a 396 under the hood and 375 horsepower and the fine line of being correct as an FBI officer.

Q: For Mr. Boreanaz, what attracted to the project overall?

David Boreanaz: I sat down with Barry and Hart - I didn’t like them at all.

Hart Hanson: He’s not kidding.

David Boreanaz: We had a difficult meeting with them, to be honest with you, because I’m pretty frank. But then walking out of the room and reading the script, I knew that the potential was there for a beautiful character piece, not only for Booth’s character, but for all the surrounding people. I looked at it as an opportunity to take a character, mould him and take a lot of chances. For me, it’s pretty much taking chances and going through a level that’s new and interesting for me. I take everything that I’ve done in the past and I hone that and hold onto that with much love and admiration, but I also continue to always look forward and continue to strive to be in the moment with the character. And I think for Booth, he definitely is a card shark. I think there’s an excitement level to him. He’s a simple guy. He likes a cheeseburger, a black cup of coffee. He’s pretty simple on the outside, but very conflicting in the inside. I think the opportunity to have a chance to work with someone like Barry, who comes from a great reputation with films, as well as Hart, who is a fantastic writer and a journeyman of character development, really kind of meshed for me. It worked and then when Emily came in the room in the 11th hour there was a spark and you can’t really determine that, it just kind of happens. It’s like lightening in a bottle. We caught it and we’re going to ride with it and we’re going to have fun with it, along with the rest of the cast. I’m very excited about this opportunity.

Q: David, you’re back again paired up with a strong female lead, having a little banter going on. What do you really enjoy about that?

David Boreanaz: What do I enjoy about Booth’s character and the banter?

Q: The relationship, being with a strong female lead, balancing off of an actress and the back-and-forth banter. What do you like about that?

David Boreanaz: Well, I can actually go to bed with this one. Possibly.

Hart Hanson: You mean without losing your soul?

David Boreanaz: Exactly. Possibly. I mean...

Jonathan Adams: Possibly.

David Boreanaz: I think with Emily - I mean with these two characters, I mean, the potential for their personal lives entering into their professional lives is, I just think, dynamic. I think we all remember when we would watch "Moonlighting," you remembered how they got into bed. You never remembered what crimes they were kind of solving. And to me, that’s interesting. That’s character work. And to me, I think when you have a relationship where you trust another person or another actor, you’re able to go to those boundaries. So for me, I mean, on "Angel," the banter really was with a bunch of demons. On "Buffy" it was with Sarah, but it was more an intense, brooding kind of relationship. There was a lot of torment and angst. And with "Angel," she wasn’t there, so I really didn’t have a female banter to go with per se, and always toe to toe with someone. So I think with this character, I know that it’s the - for me, it’s a run of gold with someone that’s going to be a lot of fun.

Q: Emily, you’re playing a character that’s a little prickly to her colleagues and may not be the kind of character that audiences really embrace at first. Is it tough to approach a character like that?

Emily Deschanel: You know what? I love that aspect of the character. A lot of times when I look at projects, I try and look for the flaws in the character and that’s what’s fascinating to me. That’s what makes somebody human. If you look at, like - I mean, I know this is a weird example, but it’s just off the top of my head. You look at "Seinfeld" or something like that and all those characters are totally dislikeable and horrible to each other and other people, but yet you love them because they become endeared to you in some way by knowing them. And you kind of understand their human flaws, which, to me, is just wonderful. I don’t know. Hopefully - who knows how the audience will receive Brennan. But I love that aspect of her character. You look at "House," and the main character in that is kind of prickly and isn’t very friendly to people and isn’t a people person. But he’s very good at what he does, and he’s kind of a fascinating character. To me, the people in the world that I’ve liked haven’t always been the friendliest people, you know.

Bones airs This Thursday @ 10pm on Sky One.