Searching Bones

My Conversation With Hart Hanson

by Lynn on May 19th, 2008

As I told you on Friday, I got to take part in a conference call interview with Hart Hanson, the creator of Bones. And I hope you will remember that he actually mentioned Searching Bones in a video interview he did back during the time of the writers’ strike. Well, dear readers, he’s now confirmed for me that he does in fact read this site! If you don’t believe me, be sure to read our conversation below.

Also, I wanted to convey to you just how warm and friendly he is to talk to. He was extremely personable, called each of us by our names and enjoyed making little jokes with us and was laughing (in a totally friendly way) during the entire interview. I felt as if he was someone that would be easy to sit with to share a cup of coffee and have a great conversation about the show and its latest plot twists. I can’t stress enough how nice he is!

Without further ado, here’s what he and I talked about:

L. DeVries: I wanted to thank you for mentioning the site in an interview you did during the writer’s strike.

H. Hanson: It’s a beautiful site.

L. DeVries: Thank you so much.

H. Hanson: I know the actors check in. I certainly look every once in awhile. It’s a very nice site.
(click on “Read More” for the rest!!)

L. DeVries: And the readers are such fans, so they will be thrilled that you come and check the site.

H. Hanson: I absolutely do.

L. DeVries: Wonderful. Thanks! I wanted to start by asking one question, to refer back to the Gormogon thing. Can you tell us whether Eric Millegan will be returning as a regular cast member in season four?

H. Hanson: I shouldn’t tell you that. [laughs]

L. DeVries: Darn! There goes my theory. Okay. I’ll move on.

H. Hanson: Let me say this; we haven’t seen the last of Eric Millegan.

L. DeVries: Great. Because he’s wonderful. We all love him.

H. Hanson: Yes. Well, so do we.

L. DeVries: I’ve wanted to ask you this for a long time. What came first, the idea to make a series out of Kathy Reich’s books or the need to find a good idea on which to base a series about an oddly matched investigative team?

H. Hanson: That’s a really good question. I have always been looking for a project that would allow me to do what I get to do on Bones. As in I’ve pitched things similar over the years and I’ve written a couple of pilots that didn’t get done. To be honest - I’ve told this story before - I came to the Bones project because I bailed, I had another project going with the studio and it just wasn’t going to work out and I left them in the lurch. And 20th Century Fox has been very good to me and I felt I owed them a pilot. So they sent me to Barry Josephson because he had optioned actually a two-hour documentary, an A&E documentary on Kathy Reichs. And I did not know her books. If I hadn’t felt beholden to the studio I wouldn’t have done it, because at first blush it looked like they wanted CSI, a forensics show, and that was not going to be my strength.

But as I watched the documentary and felt beholden to 20th, Gary and Dana, that I owed them something for investing in me. So it happened that way. I bent toward the procedural and bent that procedural towards what I liked to do, which is kind of the goofiness and character and humor of Bones, and of course that’s the thing that got made into a pilot, and of course that’s the thing that got on the air. So it was more, sort of like finding David and Emily, it was finding me and this project. I would like to say I did it totally on purpose and had a plan right from the beginning, but really I owed some people.

L. DeVries: Wonderful. We’re so glad you did.

H. Hanson: So am I.

L. DeVries: I’ve read somewhere that you and David Shore from House would be open to a Bones-House crossover somehow, to use Stephen Fry?

H. Hanson: David Shore and I are both Canadians. We knew each other a little bit in Canada. He came down here before I did and then I came out, and our offices on the 20th Century lot are not far from each other. We are great and grand friends, so we talk about these things all the time. I don’t know if that would ever happen. Between our schedules, and more importantly Stephen Fry’s schedule, he is the busiest man on the planet; I don’t know when he sleeps. We would certainly have him being a regular on this show if he were available.

But I know David is very interested in getting Stephen on. And David’s a very, very strong writer. He may not want to borrow someone else’s character to do that. You just never know. But of course, House is a gigantic hit and we are a pretty good hit. It would behoove us to do a crossover, so we would jump at the chance. And there’s something very funny about the idea of having Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, David Boreanaz, and Emily Deschanel in a scene. That’s very appealing to everyone.

L. DeVries: That would be heaven.

H. Hanson: Wouldn’t it be great?

L. DeVries: I would like to say on behalf of my readers, we’d love it.

H. Hanson: So would we. Tell them we’d love it too. I’ll keep bugging David. I see him for coffee about twice a week in the morning. I’ll keep bugging him.

I’ll post the rest of the conference call interview shortly, but wanted to get this out as quickly as possible. (Just a few more hours until the finale!!)

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POSTED IN: Hart Hanson, Interviews, Show Info, Thoughts