John Francis Daley Digs Deep...

http://blogs.pioneerlocal.com/entertainment/2009/02/john_francis_daley_talks_about.html

If you've had Fox on in the past couple of days, you couldn't have missed seeing promos for the next "Bones" episode, Feb. 5's "Hero in the Hold," which will have Booth (David Boreanaz) buried alive on a ship by the Grave Digger. And that's just one of the developments coming up in the next three episodes. In a conference call today, John Francis Daley ("Kitchen Confidential," "Freaks and Geeks") shared some secrets about future episodes and an analysis of his "Bones" character, psychologist Lance Sweets.

In the Jan. 22 "Bones" episode, "Double Trouble in the Panhandle," it was revealed that Sweets is the progeny of carnie folk when Booth and Brennan (Emily Deschanel) went undercover at a circus. Since that's not something you see every day (not even on TV), was Daley surprised by the outcome?

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Daley: "Honestly, I have no idea what they're intending to do with my character in terms of that. It's not many times you can say your character comes from a family of carnies."
But Daley said that his character's background will be explored more in the next few episodes.

Daley: "We do sort of learn a little more about his growing up in foster care or whatever happened to him before he was adopted. From upcoming episodes, we learn where he came from and the secrets he's hidden along the way. I can't really go into specifics because it's all really speculative on my part."

It also looks like Sweets will get more in on the action in "Hero in the Hold." In that episode, Brennan, Hodgins and author Thomas Vega are summoned by a Federal Judge along with the U.S. Attorney about the investigation into the Grave Digger, where they learn that evidence from the case has gone missing. With Brennan and Hodgins having been victims of the Grave Digger and Vega writing a book about it, they become suspects in the missing evidence case. But when Brennan and the team receive a phone call from the Grave Digger informing them that Booth has been buried alive with only 24 hours worth of oxygen, the Grave Digger threatens to leave him to die unless Brennan brings the missing evidence. From Sweets' assessment of the Grave Digger, they know that they can't tell the authorities or the Grave Digger or he'll take it out on Booth. As Booth struggles to free himself, the team unites to find him. And Booth's younger bro, Jared (Brendan Fehr), is back in the mix.

Daley: "My character helps the team find out who the Grave Digger is in the next episode. I profile that person and help them to find out how to set Booth free. I have a fun little session with Brennan; she asks me to teach her how to interrogate people. I help her detect the subtlety of human emotions. I teach her the simplest things most people already know, but because Brennan thinks in a different way, it's all new to her. And then hilarity ensues."

A big part of the baby-faced Sweets' character is the drive to become a respected member of the team. In real life, the 23-year-old Daley goes after roles for characters about his age or a little bit younger.

Daley: "I'm still not getting any roles for anyone's father, or grandfather for that matter, unless I have some weird 'Benjamin Button' condition."

But while youthful looks can be helpful in Hollywood, they don't help much in the business of criminal psychology.

Daley: "(Sweets) is constantly trying to get through to these people that don't take him very seriously. He's very determined to be proven right, even if he's wrong. He's really willing to do anything to get respect, and usually someone who will do anything to get respect, loses all respect."

Aside from "taking a bullet for one of them," Daley doubts there's much Sweets can do to earn Booth and Brennan's respect, but that hasn't stopped his curiousity about them, in particular Booth. Daley said that many of David Boreanaz's one-liners aimed at him are ad-libbed.

Daley: "(David) has a knack for rattling off new and interesting things. Sweets sees something in Booth that hasn't been revealed. He's waiting for Booth to let it all out. If that means that Sweets is getting punched by Booth, so be it. He's going to constantly push and push to get what he wants out of Booth."

As for Brennan, Daley was asked if he thought their shared foster-care background would cause a bond to form between the two characters.

Daley: "It definitely seems like something the writers will explore in future episodes."

Daley also wouldn't mind exploring some of the things he does in real life -- kung fu and playing the piano. The martial arts could potentially come in handy since Sweets will get to join in on some of the Scooby gang adventures in the future.

Daley: "It's been awhile since I practiced (kung fu), but I think it's like riding a bike -- you can become a killing machine again."

Originally, the role of Sweets was a guest spot, so Daley was thrilled to join the cast on a regular basis.

Daley: "When I heard they were interested in having me come on as a regular, I was very pleased. I immediately got very attached to the cast and crew."

He was asked a question that might be on the minds of a lot of "Bones" fans -- will Sweets ever try to break Zack (Eric Millegan) out of the mental hospital? Daley said he doesn't know.

Daley: "That would be very interesting if he did. I know that Sweets probably has some grief of keeping that incredibly heavy secret to himself that Zack did not kill anyone."

Daley's father, R.F. Daley, is a Broadway and TV veteran, so Daley got a taste of the acting world early in life. (Daley was actually born in Wheeling, IL, but only lived there a couple of years before the family hit the road while his dad was part of the national tour of "Cats.") His big break came playing Sam Weir on the short-lived, but much-loved, "Freaks and Geeks."

Daley: "When I was young and we were living in New York, I'd be wherever my dad worked, doing my homework backstage. (Acting) was something I immediately became fascinated with. Then came the fateful day when I was 9 years old and asked my parents for an agent."

Outside of acting, Daley is in a band, Dayplayer, and also has a few movie scripts in various stages of development, including "The $40,000 Man" and "Hours of Fun."

"Fingers crossed that one will become an actual movie," Daley said.


Here's what's coming up on "Bones":


Feb. 19 -- "The Princess and the Pear"

Looks like Agent Payton Perotta (Marisa Coughlin) is back to help investigate a case and of course be a potential cause of jealousy for Brennan. In "Princess," a group of eighth-graders find the decomposed body of woman wearing a medieval princess dress. With Booth out of commission from a back injury, Agent Perotta steps in to help with the investigation. With insight from "squint" Colin Fisher, a self-professed geek and expert in the language of sci-fi, the team identifies the woman as a promotional model from ImagiCon, a convention for fans of comic books, video games and other sci-fi genre entertainment. Brennan and the team navigate the outlandish landscape of ImagiCon to find the killer. They soon find the victim may have owned a highly valuable piece of sci-fi memorabilia that many would kill to possess.

Feb. 26 -- "The Bones that Foam"

This episode, which David Boreanaz directed, begins with a bungee-jumping couple who plunges off a bridge on their wedding day only to find a corpse lying at the bottom of a gorge. Booth and Brennan hike down the rocky creek bed to examine the corpse and determine the victim was already dead before he was thrown off of the bridge. Back at the lab, the team tries to determine the cause of death when they notice an unknown substance oozing from the body, throwing the lab into an immediate lockdown. As the victim's bones continue to foam, the team realizes they have only 24 hours to determine the cause of death before the bones disintegrate completely. Meanwhile, Booth and Brennan identify the victim as a car salesman who might have left behind a lot of unsatisfied customers.