Bones' Emily Deschanel Refused To Use A Stunt Double For One Physically Taxing Scene
The thing with playing a fictional character is that certain things from one's real life are going to impact that character. This came into play for Emily Deschanel during her long run as Temperance Brennan on "Bones." During the show's seventh season, Deschanel was pregnant, which impacted the production. Part of that was solved by her character also being pregnant, even though half of the season's planned episodes still had to be scrapped. But other problems were solved simply by Deschanel being unwilling to surrender parts of her job, including stunts.
Executive producers Hart Hanson and Stephen Nathan discussed "Bones" season 7 ahead of its premiere back in 2011 with TV Tango. The duo explained that they hired a stunt double for the actor, figuring somewhat reasonably that she would need it given that she was toward the end of her pregnancy. But as Nathan revealed, even though she was literally days away from giving birth, Deschanel still insisted on doing the heavy lifting:
"We actually scheduled the shooting of episodes five and six so that we were shooting them at the same time. All I can say is Emily was so pregnant that she finished on Monday and had the baby the next day. So, she was working until she basically was in the good earth. She was unbelievable, but she refused to have stunt people and there's a scene that you'll see in I think it's the second episode, where she just has it at some 350 pound man, and that was her."
Deschanel's commitment to the show was nothing new at this point. She injured herself during "Bones" season 4, but just covered it up and kept on going. This, however, is next-level dedication.
'We've got a stunt double for that'
It's not as though Deschanel just went along with everything that the powers that be wanted her to do without ever raising a concern. Several "Bones" storylines don't sit well with the actor, in hindsight. But that's also probably just going to happen when a show runs for 12 seasons. When it came to season 7 though, Hanson and Nathan had to step in at certain points to make sure Deschanel didn't overextend herself. As Hanson explained:
"I was thinking that we hired a stunt double, remember? It was a story point that Booth was concerned about Brennan getting to across some broken ground to a crime scene and we told Emily, 'Well, you know what Brennan would do — she'd run across there, but we'll have a stunt double for that.' And she said, 'No, I want to do it.' And we had to physically tell her 'No. You're not going to run across that to get to the body. We've got a stunt double for that.' She's just been totally game."
This is where stunt people come into play. They're an important part of any production for a reason. Even so, Deschanel's ability to show up even under those circumstances did not go unnoticed, as Nathan had some very kind words for her to wrap things up:
"She just did absolutely everything. I mean, there were a couple of times that the days were long, and we sent her home. But, honestly, she is built from iron. She is unbelievable."
"Bones" is currently streaming on Hulu and Prime Video.