One Bones Director Couldn't Escape David Boreanaz's Behind-The-Scenes Pranks
"Bones" went off the air in 2017 which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't all that long ago. Even so, it already feels like something of a dinosaur as it's difficult to imagine any scripted show made recently running more nearly 250 episodes across 12 seasons. That's a heck of a run and, for the main actors on the show, specifically David Boreanaz (Booth) and Emily Deschanel (Brennan), they have to do something to pass the time week-to-week. For Boreanaz, it came down to pulling pranks on the directors sometimes.
In an interview with BUILD Series in honor of the series finale, Boreanaz was discussing some fun memories he had from working on the show for more than a decade. At one point, the actor explained that when director Jeannot Szwarc (of "Jaws 2" fame) would arrive to helm an episode of the series, he very much enjoyed messing with him. Here's what he had to say about it:
"We had one director, his name was Jeannot [Szwarc], he was a French director, great guy. So I always loved playing pranks on him, whether it was stuffing his bag with weights or bananas or, like, fruit. And he wouldn't know, and then he'd leave and he'd be, like, busted from the guard. I mean, things like that, to me, were just priceless moments. Being behind with the cast and enjoying those moments with Emily as she would get in and know and be laughing that, I'm gonna miss those moments."
Passing the time behind the scenes on Bones
That all sounds harmless enough and like it was done in good spirits. Filling a bag with bananas is good for a laugh but it's also not some cruel-hearted joke. Even so, Boreanaz had plenty of opportunities to mess with Szwarc as he ended up directing 15 episodes of "Bones" beginning with season 2 and spanning through season 11. For you math fans out there, that means Szwarc directed roughly 6% of the show's episodes in total.
As for why Boreanaz liked picking on this director in particular? That's difficult to say. One thing we can say for certain is that he is a ridiculously accomplished director. Szwarc directed movies like "Somewhere in Time" and "Supergirl" in the '80s, but he's since made quite the career as a TV director, working on everything from "Smallville" to "Ally McBeal." Speaking to Film Talk in 2019, the filmmaker explained that he tends to have a good relationship with actors, which might explain why Boreanaz connected with him.
"I am happy to say that I always had a very good relationship with my actors. I don't get angry, I don't bully, I don't dictate, and I try to get them to understand what I'm after."
For his part, Boreanaz also said in the interview that he'll "miss all of those directors that came in and touched our lives somehow through the work."
"Bones" is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Hulu.