Dead Bodies Weren't The Grossest Part Of Bones For Emily Deschanel
In the "Bones" episode "Spaceman in a Crater" (May 2, 2007), Bones (Emily Deschanel) and Booth (David Boreanaz) find the splattered remains of a human being out in the middle of a field. It seems that they had fallen from a great height, likely pushed from a plane (the victim had no parachute). Like with many episodes of "Bones," the camera lingers on the gory remains for a long while, allowing audiences to squirm a little bit before Bones and Booth can begin investigating the case in earnest. They find that the victim's bones were porous and brittle, indicating that he was either 130 years old, or that he had spent a great deal of time in zero gravity. "Bones," however, is not "The X-Files," so there is no actual alien malfeasance afoot.
There is a scene halfway through "Spaceman in a Crater" wherein Bones, examining a bone, pokes a hole through its surface and reveals a green, coral substance inside. This would reveal that the victim was an astronaut who was using implanted coral to repair his chronically porous skeleton.
Star Deschanel was exposed to gross, rotting rubbery bodies on a daily basis while filming "Bones," and she got to know gore effects pretty well during the show's 12 seasons. Despite how gross the bodies might have looked to audiences, Deschanel said that she was never grossed out or nauseated by the more overt effects. Talking to "Today," however, Deschanel revealed that she still does get a weak stomach sometimes, as when she had to pull the green coral fragment out of the prop bone in "Spaceman." For some reason, that creeped her out.
Spaceman in a Crater
It's possible that Emily Deschanel suffers from a mild case of trypophobia, the fear of porous objects. That would explain why an episode about coral and porous bones got under her skin, so to speak. Talking to Al Roker, Deschanel revealed how icky "Spaceman" was for her to film, saying:
"I get grossed out by weird things. Like there was an episode where there was coral in a bone? And that freaked me out. I don't know. Yeah, [the victim] used it as a replacement. I think it was an astronaut? It was a long time ago. Things like that creep me out. But these disgusting bodies? I just show up and eat my lunch over it and it's not a big deal."
Roker expressed relief that Deschanel didn't have to work with real human cadavers, which, it seems, she had done. Playing a character who studies dead bodies eventually brought the actress to a real morgue so she could get some hands-on experience with real corpses. That, she recalled, was quite different from the simulated experience on "Bones," as the rubberized bodies made for television don't smell the same as the real deal. Deschanel said:
"It's a different smell, because I've been to the morgue. It's a different smell. [... I didn't go] at the beginning, but I did eventually go to the morgue. And, yeah, it's an experience you never forget for sure."
Bone coral also played a part in the episode "The Devil in the Details" (February 4, 2010) wherein a victim had implanted coral in his skull to encourage the growth of real bone horns. This is a similar procedure that famed sideshow performer The Enigma underwent. Deschanel didn't mention "Devil," perhaps inured to the idea by then.