ING Article - Talking to the Cast about 'Mummy in the Maze'

Wonder Woman Comes to Bones
Emily Deschanel tell us about donning the satin tights for a Halloween episode.
by Eric Goldman

October 29, 2007 - On the set of Bones, Wonder Woman and Catwoman are standing nearby Cher, the captain of the Titanic, a very geeky lab assistant and… half a cow. Is this some sort of bizarre crossover? No, it's the first Bones Halloween episode, which was definitely a good thing for series star Emily Deschanel, who told me "Halloween is probably my favorite holiday."

Temperance Brennan (Deschanel) is dressed as Wonder Woman, Angela (Michaela Conlin) is Cher, Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) is the captain of the Titanic, Zack (Eric Millegan) is the lower half of a cow and as for Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz), he's decided to dress up as the highly nerdified version of one of the Jeffersonian "Squints." But trouble is brewing and all six of the character have to drop their plans to gather in Angela's office to discuss a case they're involved in, no matter what they're wearing.

Deschanel explains the situation, saying "There's the Jeffersonian Halloween party. We're all going and supposedly this is the costume that I wear every year. We get involved in this investigation, but then we change into our costumes. And then it gets really serious, but we're still in our costumes and we have to continue trying to solve these crimes that are happening." Millegan also reveals that as the episode progresses "Booth and Brennan go out and hunt down the killer... in their costumes."

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(L-R) Emily Deschanel, Michaela Conlin and David Boreanaz in Bones

Millegan said that shooting the episode was a lot of fun, noting that not only did he get to see most of his co-stars in amusing costumes but "Finally we have David in a lab coat!" As Deschanel and Taylor walk by, Millegan jokes "There's Wonder Woman and Catwoman!", adding "They had a little discussion earlier about who was the coolest superhero."

As Thyne approached Millegan revealed "He's wearing the actual costume that the captain of the Titanic wore in the [James Cameron] movie." Observing the odd sight of Thyne in his half-cow costume, Thyne quipped "Eric is wearing an actual cow."

Millegan said this episode would serve as a small hint at Eric's love life, revealing their was indeed someone dressed as the other half of the cow - "Naomi from paleontology as the front." Millegan recalled how in Season 1 Naomi was brought up when "We talked about how we had sex and she didn't call me back. We hadn't heard from her in two years, but now she's going to this Halloween party with me."

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(L-R) Eric Millegan, Deschanel, T.J. Thyne and Boreanaz

Sitting across from Millegan it was hard not to be amused by the large udders sticking out of the front of his costume. He laughed that no one had grabbed at them so far "and I like that. That's good. Those are my udders!" Taylor then happened to glance over, seeing Millegan grabbing the udders and laughed, exclaiming "That is so wrong!"

Conlin said that when she read the script "I was first thinking we were going to be doing the older Cher," rather than the later years, huge headdress wearing version she's costumed as. "I thought maybe Hodgins was going to be Sonny, and I was going to be the old school Cher, which I was really excited about, but then I heard 'No, we're going hardcore Bob Mackie' and I was like 'You know what? Let's just do it.' I think Angela would be the one person that would just go for it, you know?"

When I mentioned to Conlin that she's probably lucky they didn't have her wear the butt-baring outfit Cher made famous in the "If I Could Turn Back Time" video, she nodded and said "No, but I'm thinking of having Emily sing that and then I'm gonna lip synch, because we do some fierce Cher's imitations. We may have a sing off."
Seeing Conlin on set you can't help but notice the huge headdress she's wearing, which she said actually "became a story point" in the scene being shot, when Deschanel and Boreanaz couldn't see around it. "I did go to yoga yesterday," she noted. "I usually opt out of the sit up options, but I was like 'Alright, I better do these today!' I definitely have been standing straighter. It's fun to have a headdress. Everything makes you stand differently. I notice Emily standing with her hands on her hips, and Tamara has the tail curling around. I think we're all getting into character, which is fun."

Conlin said that rather than seeing all of her costars revealed in full costume "It happened in pieces. I saw Emily's boots, and then I saw her tights and then I saw the wig. It's been fun seeing everybody. Although I turned the corner and saw David in full geek mode, and that was pretty awesome. He looks great, I have to say."

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In-between takes, Deschanel was having a lot of fun doing Wonder Woman type moves, as her costars jokingly threw small objects at her she deflected with her bracelets. At one point she also did the famous Wonder Woman twirl, a la Lynda Carter on the 1970s TV series. When I brought this up to Deschanel she laughed, saying "I'm trying to really get into character here! Not just gonna wear the costume - I'm gonna get deep. Who Wonder Woman is. Who her soul really is." Deschanel said that filming the episode was "A lot of fun. It's my childhood dream, so I'm very happy."

She recalled Bones executive producer Hart Hanson coming to speak to her about the episode. "He asked 'How do you feel about dressing as Wonder Woman?' I said 'I already have the costume.' Which I do, but they had to make four of them which are different from mine. My family gave me the outfit a few years ago for a birthday gift, to wear at Halloween."

Brennan is a bit of an oddity when it comes to pop culture, often completely oblivious to the references her coworkers make. Deschanel said that was addressed a bit in the episode in regards to Wonder Woman and Brennan's familiarity with the character. "Because she's a comic book character as well as a television show character, it kind of works," Deschanel remarked. "It's an earlier reference and she could have known it as a little girl. She could have watched the show, like I did. She might not know who Britney Spears is, but she knows who Wonder Woman is. She doesn't watch any television or any of that stuff now but she did as a child, maybe. I think she also knows it from the comic book as well as the television show. She has to know certain things. She's a John Wayne fan! So there's certain things that she does know."

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Similar to Conlin, Deschanel said that it was a gradual process seeing her costars in their costumes. "I saw Michaela and Tamara at different stages of costumes in the morning, without their makeup and hair and headdresses and masks and things," she said. "So when I got to see them on set, I was pretty excited. I thought they were great ideas for costumes. It's a funny visual."

I asked Deschanel what it was like doing dramatic scenes while standing in a Wonder Woman costume and she replied "You kind of forget it. You kind of forget it after awhile, so it's not that weird. I'm used to being on sets with a costume - this is just a different costume, you know? It's easy to forget what you look like but then you pass a mirror and you catch yourself. You shock yourself."


The Bones Halloween episode, "The Mummy in the Maze", airs Tuesday, October 30th at 8:00 pm ET/PT on FOX.

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