Suff Interview: David Boreanaz on SEAL Team

Bones star David Boreanaz on the front-line in new military drama

David Boreanaz as Jason Hayes on Seal Team

After 12 years starring as Agent Seeley Booth in the series, Bones, David Boreanaz says he wasn’t looking to jump back into another long-term TV contact.

But then he was given a script for the military drama Seal Team and became intrigued. The story focuses on the lives of the elite Navy Seals as they train, plan and execute dangerous, high-stakes missions around the world.

The 47-year-old actor, also known for the vampire dramas Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, stars as team leader Jason Hayes. he tells Jenny Cooney Carrillo what brought him back to television.

David Boreanaz says Bones was a fantastic journey for him

Did you have to do any physical training for this role compared with Bones?

I’ve played a lot of ice hockey and have been training in that environment because the physical aspects of the show required more than just doing push-ups. I think ice hockey has a great metaphor for the way these guys go into situations and battles – whether you are battling on the ice.. or you are going after a puck, skating on blades and keeping your hips forward. I also really tuned in to the mental aspect of these guys and how they attack certain situations and how they deal with life outside of war once they are deployed. For me, it was more about getting into their heads and trying to understand that, which was humbling for me.

How much research did you do?

Well I spent a lot of time speaking with Navy Seal guys and one thing that always fascinated me about this character is his sense of charm, of drive, of duty to his country and also duty to his sacrifice. A lot of these guys are known as heroes, but then they come home and are very misunderstood and have a tough time trying to fit back into society.

Did anything surprise you about the Navy Seals you met?

There are so many levels to the military and there are so many levels to a Tier One leader in Delta Force. We were lucky to have an ex-Tier One leader on set a lot and I was able to spend time with him. We spoke about the relevance of how they want to make the show about their lives rather than the mission of the week, so to speak, and that speaks volumes coming from a guy deployed 13 times and was on both the Bin Laden raid and with Captain Phillips. I guess I knew these guys ticked differently but it surprised me to hear that when they get deployed, they get excited about that and it required a different mindset to be able to understand life in their sense of world.

So the show is character-driven and less action-orientated?

It’s a lot of both. The characters will struggle mentally with certain situations when they are on deployment or they are on missions and they don’t quite understand what they are going through until they are at the other side of it. Jason struggles with being a veteran Team One tier leader who has seen limbs shot off and guys killed, and that has an impact on him. We all want to sugar-coat what happens in combat but we do want people to have a better understanding of how soldiers deal with going through a war and how society reacts when we bring them back.

How does this job feel in comparison to Bones?

The work in itself is very different and he’s a character that excites me. Bones was a fantastic journey for me and the cast, and it had such value and touched so many lives, so I’m very proud of that. But now it’s a new journey for me to step into the shoes of another character who is shedding light on to subject matters that are all about going through pain and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

How would you describe the show?

One of the things we love to do with the show is push the envelope and go outside the box and not always be so predictable. When you do a military show, there are lots of clichés that one could obviously play but we take those clichés and spin them in a way that makes sense for the characters. We have around 41 veterans working on the show and we know how to get the action and the weapons handling right. But for me it was always important if I was going to return to TV that I be in a character-driven show.

Seal Team, Prime (New Zealand), starts Friday February 9

Original article at Stuff

Author: Cider

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