David Boreanaz is sort of a throwback to a different era: an actor who is completely comfortable being a TV star and nothing more. He showed little interest in becoming a movie star, and while he’s a producer and director, he usually only undertakes those roles on his own TV shows. I think there are three kinds of people: people who love David because of Buffy; people who love David because of Bones; and people who just don’t like him. I’m a Bones person – that show was great and David was great on it, as was Emily Deschanel. Bones ran for 12 seasons and probably made David and Emily a lot of money (especially in residuals). After Bones ended, David immediately jumped into SEAL Team, which was on CBS and now on Paramount+. The seventh season has just premiered, and it turns out that this will be the final season. David decided to quit because he simply can’t keep up with all of the bonkers stunt work. He gave an interview to People Mag about the end of the show, Bones and more. Some highlights:
Why he can’t do SEAL Team anymore: “My body just can’t do it anymore!” He recalls directing a scene where he had to carry a 250-lb. stunt double on his back. “Ten feet in, I hit a rock, and my ankle twists, and I fall flat down. My ankle is ballooning, but I had to keep going. You learn from the SEALs how to push through pain — I’m talking guys who have had their arm blown off and are cracking jokes because that’s how they deal with it. It’s very intense. I take good care of myself, but it gets to a point where your body’s not moving like it used to… I think I’ve had four MRIs in the past four months, for my knees, hips, shoulders. It’s been quite a journey.”
He’s keeping busy but he’s also ready for a break: “I have plans. My work ethic is always head on a swivel, be in the now, don’t look back, don’t look far down the pipeline.” He does note that while he’s ready for a break after starring in back-to-back series for nearly 30 years (he was also on Bones, opposite Emily Deschanel from 2005-2017), he’s not good at sitting still. “Vacations are good until, like, the second day, and then I’m bouncing my knees thinking about what we’re going to do next,” he says with a laugh. But he looks forward to hanging out with his kids, Jaden, 22, and Bella, 15. “My mind is always actively going. Work to me is relaxation, it fulfills me.” Work, he says, and spending time with his kids. “That’s it.”
He loves that people are still watching ‘Bones’: “I was doing LIVE with Kelly and Mark the other day [for the final season of SEAL Team], and these two younger girls were there for a fashion show, literally like 10 years old and 12. Their mom was there, and she said they were just so excited I was there because they love Bones, and I’m just sitting there going, ‘This is so trippy!'”
He had a lot of fun on ‘Bones’: “Emily Deschanel and I were like, ‘How do we change the spectrum of half-hour procedural?'” he says of working closely with his costar, noting that they even studied together with his acting coach on weekends. “You have to have it be character-driven. You have to be talking over dead forensic bodies, cracking jokes. You have to be in tune with each other. And we created something special. I was lucky to be a part of it. It went back to the consistency, to the dedication to taking weekends off, studying with Ivana [Chubbuck], and having Emily say, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that with you.’ That’s a gift, that’s an inspiration. You don’t usually get that with other actors. But that’s how we created chemistry. It wasn’t just like, ‘Here are the lines, say them. We rewrote a lot of those scenes, we presented them, we played with them inside and out, we added our subtext.”
Emily and David always said that about Bones, that they worked together really well and they spent a lot of time working on that chemistry and working with an acting coach. Every story I hear about that show, it’s always like: David and Emily were always on the same page, they always had each other’s back, they had a really strong professional bond. That’s why the show ran for twelve years too, even though they were really running out of stories towards the end. It’s crazy that David has basically been on back-to-back TV shows for almost 30 years, and it sounds like this SEAL Team show almost killed him. He’s too old to be doing that stuff! After the fourth MRI, he was like… some Navy SEALs sit at a desk, right? Surely one of the SEALs’ jobs is paperwork?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
- Actor David Boreanaz arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of CBS Television Studios’ ‘SEAL Team’ held at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood on February 25, 2020 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 563762763, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
- Actor David Boreanaz arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of CBS Television Studios’ ‘SEAL Team’ held at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood on February 25, 2020 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 563762957, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
- NO TABLOID – David Boreanaz attends the opening ceremony of the 63rd Television Festival of Monte-Carlo.,Image: 881774053, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO TABLOID, Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
- Photocall during the 63rd Monte-Carlo Television Festival on June 17, 2024 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. 63eme Festival de Television de Monte Carlo – call David Boreanaz,Image: 882564273, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Lionel Guericolas / Avalon
- David Boreanaz, Vincent Niclo, Laury Thilleman during the Closing Ceremony during the 63rd Monte-Carlo Television Festival on June 18, 2024 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco.,Image: 882894838, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
After Buffy he did the spin off, Angel. Which lasted until 2004. So really little break between that and Bones. I’m a Buffy lover.
For all of its problems, I’m a huge Bones fan. And I did love Buffy and Angel, but Joss Whedon as a person makes me cringe, so I’m holding off on doing any rewatches. My only impression of DB is that he works hard, and he seemed to always have his costars backs. That and an MTV interview where someone (Jesse Camp I think?) kept calling him “David Bananas” — that will forever live rent-free in my head.
I read old timey gossip about him. He was reportedly a serial cheater with a penchant for playboy bunnies.
I watched and loved bones. But I always thought he had a very punchable frat boy gone to seed face.
He married a Playboy Bunny and was caught up in an extortion plot with one of his affairs. He pushed back legally. I think it all kind of went away. And he got domestic fast. Haven’t heard a peep about him in years.
He had the most famous affair with Rachel Uchitel, Tiger Wood’s mistress. He has been super quiet in recent years after that scandal. He either keeps things on the down low or keeps it in his pants(thinking the former). Maybe he makes them sign Nda’s?
I did notice he said he enjoyed spending time with his kids, that and work; no mention of a wife.
I watched Bones for a good long while–I read the books–but I gotta say, I never thought Emily Deschanel understood what she was saying. She also put strange pauses in her sentences, like she’d memorize a string of 5-6 words, take a breath, then do another 5-6 words. And the series, like the book, kinda putter out, although I watched it anyway (and I may be a book or two or three behind).
Never watched any of those shows. Maybe an episode of Buffy but it’s not my thing.
But the chemistry part of why Bones lasted so long is truth. I feel the same about Elementary. You could feel the respect JLM & LL have for each other even in characters.
LOVE “Elementary”! I re-watched it recently during my lunch break and it still completely holds up.
I miss that show!!!!
Bones, Elementary, and West Wing are in constant rotation in my house.
I think I was in late hs and college when Buffy came out and initially I was very angel. Spike did win me over though so I think I became team spike. Never watched Angel. Def side eye those joss whedon shows now. Team Charisma Carpenter. But I enjoyed and watched Bones and so it’s nice to hear positive stories between two co-workers. I love that they worked with an acting coach to get the chemistry just right.
Spike ultimately won me over too—then he married that woman that was decades younger than him in real life. He supposedly went to her hs graduation and prom when he was 41! All kinds of eek!!! They got divorced after 10 years married (no shocker there). He is 61 and unmarried again, but doubt I am his preferred age range (I am 43). LOL
I loved him as Spike too but will always side eye him for dating a significantly younger woman and marrying her!
https://meaww.com/who-is-patricia-rahman-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-spike-james-marsters-divorced-10-year-marriage
Also how old do we feel to know James Marsters is 61???
Very much yes to Team Spike (if not the guy’s actual personal life, yuck). I’m 45 but it passed me by in real time and I finally got caught up last year while we were having building work done and I needed to escape. I haven’t finished but after her mother died and she came back from the dead I lost interest. Spike was my standout favourite, particularly an episode when he has to stay with Giles and they’re arguing about breakfast cereal or something silly. They’re brilliant together.
I am in the camp of don’t like him. All I can think about is how he cheated on his pregnant wife with Rachel Uchitel.
I forgot that bit that his wife was pregnant at the time! Egads! That is the worst kind of cheater IMO to cheat on your pregnant partner.
I saw him first in the music video for Dido’s ‘White Flag’. Even if it was a blink-and-you-miss-it appeareance, he really stood out. I had no idea he was famous! He’s very handsome and yes, he has this frat-boy build, but he manages to keep relatable.
Re: Bones, I watched with gusto until the Pelant arc. Then OG characters started to leave or break up, things got weird or conspirational, crimes became absurd…
I appreciate he’s not afraid to admit to limitations from his age and the physical stress he puts on his body. I really hope the ‘I pull my own stunts whatever it takes’ or just ‘deadly stunts’ era is being left behind.
Bones all the way!
I was a fan of his until he got busted for sexual harassment of extras on Bones. Can’t remember if he also cheated on his wife around the same, but I do recall a mea culpa campaign in the press with his family afterwards.
I love him as an actor – loved both Angel and Bones, thou like Buffy the plot lines for Angel jumped shark the last few seasons (he and Charisma Carpenter had good chemistry). He’s always been messy in his personal life, cheating and harassment allegations have dogged him over the years.
His movie career never really went anywhere – he was in that really terrible The Crow Wicked Prayer movie with Tara Reid and Edward Furlong. It was soooooo bad.
One of my favorite episodes is The Blackout in the Blizzard (Season 6 Episode 16).
Booth spots a row of discarded seats from the Vet (Veterans’ baseball Stadium). Those seats are meaningful to Booth; one of his only good memories waa his father taking him to a baseball game. He begs Brennan and Sweets to help him get the seats back to his apartment while they are in the midst of a blizzard. When they finally bring it into the building Booth and Bones wedge the seats and themselves and an ancient elevator. The electricity goes out. They are stuck.
After many hours Booth & Bones finally get the seats into his apartment. It is an emotional, heartfelt moment for Booth. He visualizes that memory. I always cry when I see it. It reminds me of my grand-uncle who died over 20 years ago. He took my siblings and me to so many placss when we were young. Everytime I see this episode I think of my grand-uncle. I visualize those moments in time. It is tremendously comforting.