One Bones Moment Made Emily Deschanel Cry So Much They Had To Scrap The Footage
Crime procedurals can be brutal. While actors on shows like "Criminal Minds" and "Law & Order: SVU" might brace themselves to play characters who deal with the unthinkable, the nasty and upsetting details of shows like these can still sometimes get to the people who embody the detectives fans love. Just ask Emily Deschanel: in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Deschanel revealed that one early episode of the show "Bones" impacted her so much that she ended up bawling on film — a sharp contrast to her matter-of-fact character's non-reactions.
"I remember the first season doing takes where there [were] some things that were super upsetting," Deschanel told THR in 2019. "I remember there was an episode about a girl in foster care and my character was supposed to be in foster care, and I was just bawling crying." Her character, Dr. Temperance Brennan, had her own tragic backstory in which she survived chaotic and unpleasant teen years spent in foster care. Of course, the circumstances surrounding her time in foster care would later be revealed to be more silly than scary — her parents were bank robbers who went on the lam after they discovered FBI corruption — but the traumatic impact was real.
'I was so upset but my character was so cut off emotionally'
For Deschanel, that impact came through in a way that didn't line up with what was actually in the script for her character. "We couldn't use any of it," she revealed. "I was so upset but my character was so cut off emotionally." While the actress doesn't mention the episode by name, an early season 2 episode called "The Boy in the Shroud" involves a suspect who had also been a part of the foster system, making the case hit extra close to home for Dr. Brennan. In the end, the teen girl who had been suspected of the crime was actually just protecting another foster kid. It's enough to make almost anyone cry — but Temperance Booth isn't almost anyone.
When talking about shooting that episode, Deschanel noted that she appreciated the show's "strong female characters." She told THR: "Hart Hanson, who created it, was a feminist himself and we talked about how my character would never be saved by the male lead until I saved him first." Her unflappable heroine went on to inspire young viewers to get into STEM, which she says was a highlight of her experience on the show. "My favorite thing ever was when I met young girls who said they wanted to become scientists or they were in the process of studying science because of watching the show," Deschanel told THR.
An even darker foster care plot
"Bones" ended in 2017 after a twelve season run, and Deschanel has since taken on roles in shows like "Animal Kingdom" and the Netflix thriller "Devil in Ohio." The latter series ironically also features a teen girl entering the foster care system, except this time, she's a survivor of a ritualistic cult and Deschanel plays a woman taking care of her. Surprisingly, there seem to be some parallels between the two sets of characters.
Her character in "Devil in Ohio," Deschanel told Collider, "has never fully dealt with her own trauma and is, in a way, trying to save herself through saving" a cult survivor. There is one major difference though: if the dark subject matter on "Devil in Ohio" got to be too much, there was apparently a cat on set named Paws Luhrmann who the actors could pet. Aw! Someone should get Dick Wolf on the phone — I think we've got a new industry standard to start, here.