Bones Shares An Intriguing Creative Connection With A Nightmare On Elm Street
Imagine if you will a line of dominoes that increase in size as they move left to right. A man stands behind the smallest domino, poised to knock it forward, which will instigate a chain reaction leading to the largest domino toppling over. This "domino theory" illustration helps to visualize the causal interconnection between a seemingly innocuous event in the past and a monumental event in the present or near future. It's especially handy when attempting to understand how 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck's mother getting a cold in 1908 led indirectly to the creation and broad success of the comedy procedural series "Bones" in 2005. And not because "Bones" was a Fox show. The connection is much more serpentine and intriguing.
You see, when the Wahoo, Wisconsin-born Sarah Louise Zanuck caught a hard-to-shake chill in the latter years of the 20th century's first decade, she thought it'd be sensible to move her family to sunny California for a bit of environmental therapy. This is what allowed young Daryl to enter and quickly springboard his way through the burgeoning entertainment industry, leading to the creation of 20th Century Fox. Zanuck had a son named Richard who married a woman named Lili Fini, whose first producing project was Ron Howard's 1985 sci-fi comedy "Cocoon." That film was also the first credit to the name of Kevin Yagher, a fledgling special effects technician.
According to a 2017 TV Insider interview with Yagher and his brother/partner in effects Chris, that gig led to him doing Freddy's makeup several "Nightmare on Elm Street" films, which led to HBO's "Tales from the Crypt," upon which set he met Barry Josephson, the future showrunner of "Bones," who later personally recruited Yagher to do the corpse effects.
Kismet!
Blood brothers
This is a rather roundabout way of elucidating the connection between "Bones" and the "Nightmare" franchise. But viewed another way, it's actually quite an accurate illustration of the unpredictable nature of the Hollywood career, in which opportunities present themselves at random and often without warning. Listen to Yagher tell the story himself:
"I started working on things like Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' for a makeup artist named Rick Baker, who just recently retired and was like an seven-time Academy Award winner. I started the business back then with 'Nightmare' and 'Cocoon.' I just started doing small things. 'Nightmare on Elm Street,' I did three or four of those films. And then I did, I got into 'Child's Play' — I did four of those films. [...] And I did a character called The Crypt Keeper from 'Tales From the Crypt' [on] HBO, and that's where I met Barry Josephson who went on to become the executive producer of 'Bones.' And he and I hit it off really well and as we got to know each other, became friendly and just on. We've been working together over the years and he's the one who actually called me on 'Bones' when this came up 12 years ago and that's how I got the job."
We've all heard grueling, unbelievable stories from the talent side of the industry, but it's honestly the same on the craft side. Even if you're the best in your field, there's no guarantee of success. But if you've seen "Bones," you'll know just how good the Yagher brothers' work on those corpses always was.
The Yaghers worked on a staggering 234 episodes of "Bones," so you'll forgive them if their filmographies have been a bit scant since. If you want to see even more of their artistry, check out their contributions to any number of incredible films, from "Face/Off" to "Hellraiser: Bloodline" to "Æon Flux."