HART HANSON on the Set of Bones
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HART HANSON ON THE SET OF BONES. I N P R O F I LE How did a guy who wanted to teach college on Vancouver Island end up a giant of American television? B y CURTIS GILLESPIE Photo: Dan Sackheim 40 EIGHTEEN BRIDGES SPRING 2012 WWW.EIGHTEENBRIDGES.COM WWW.EIGHTEENBRIDGES.COM EIGHTEEN BRIDGES SPRING 2012 41 THE FIFTY or so BUILDings on THE spraWLing obsequiously. When this man steps into Though he is not the brooding, philo- carpet, a large desk, and some punched- Vancouver, Kamloops, Calgary, Fox Studio lot in Beverly Hills, California, the kitchen of the production office, people sophical type, Hanson enjoys those rare up couches and chairs. Hanson can STRAYS Winnipeg, and Toronto. The family his- take three primary shapes: the sleek glass do not presume that he is delivering fruit moments when he gets some downtime to usually be found behind his desk, Dogs of the world, anonymous tory is equally all over the map, and and steel of the executive offices in the and pastries, but instead try to secure think or write or read; he got a lot of those strumming his fingers either on the wanderers, moral conundrums, it’s no accident Hanson grew up to be southeast corner, the giant airport hangar- even a second’s conversation. moments sitting in the hospital recovering. desk top or lightly over one of the many I find them by the road, a storyteller. His father, for instance, like sound stages in the middle, and the Why do they do these things? As he did so, many in the world of popular guitars he keeps behind his desk, as scavenging milk cartons was such a fine track athlete in his low-slung two-storey apartment-style pro- The obvious answer would be because entertainment were wondering a few things he chats with, primarily, one or all of thrown from the bus: day that Hanson’s grandmother used duction offices along the west edge of the this man is Hart Hanson, one of television’s about Hanson and his creative arc. First, three people: his executive assistant, feist pups galled with mange, to claim her son’s high school had lot. Strolling through this environment is most influential and successful creative how long will the incredibly popular Bones Nick Larsen; his manager of creative old hounds, blind and lame, once won the state track champion- an exercise in compulsory humility. Were minds, the Canadian creator of the long- run (it was recently renewed for an eighth affairs, Josh Levy; or Stephen Nathan, at the end of their utility. ship, even though her son, Hanson’s you to ever feel insecure about how much running TV hit, Bones (a comedic crime season), and, more to the point, how long the executive producer and head writer father, was the only person on the money you make, how good-looking you procedural about a brainy female forensic might Hanson choose to remain at its helm? of Bones, and Hanson’s longtime friend Such I once whispered secrets to team. Hanson assumed this was are, or how much clout you have, you would anthropologist and an all-action male FBI Second, how successful could the Bones and collaborator. and begged to keep family hyperbole until many years later be well-advised to meander elsewhere. agent), and its popular spinoff, The Finder spinoff, The Finder, ultimately become? (As If any of these three are in Han- and was commanded when he happened to see some old Funky and purposeful technical people (a frothy crimedy about a decorated but recently as early April, no decision had been son’s office, particularly Nathan (who to lead into the woods newspaper clippings from the Potlatch, criss-cross the avenues and grassy areas. lovably damaged Iraq war veteran who can made on renewing it for a second season.) owns an air of wearied experience to execute and bury. Idaho daily, which noted that Hanson Tall executives in gorgeous shoes and find anything anywhere). But the real rea- Third, and perhaps most importantly, so profound you sense that even the And my father was not a bad man. pére had indeed won every single event designer labels strut about exhibiting their son people do these things, the reason why there is the question of what Hanson— appearance of the Devil before him And Saint John Perse wrote, at the state championships. “Except minxy locks, toned flesh and flawless teeth people appear to be drawn to Hanson and who is certainly one of the most successful would elicit nothing but a shrug and a “I had a horse. Who was he?” the relay,” deadpanned Hanson in the (as do their female counterparts). Creative- treat him more like a friend than a power Canadians in the history of television; to “meh”), business may ensue, but it will retelling. looking types—writers probably, though player, more one of the guys than the guy, date Fox has supplied him with nearly be preceded, interrupted, and post- Do animals have souls? Hanson’s mother also had a sense they could also be gardeners—loll around might just be because there are days, many half a billion dollars to create his shows— scripted by stories, jokes, anecdotes, My favorite channels of the fantastic about her. The first time dressed in carefully rumpled clothing. days, when Hanson still can’t quite believe might do next, regardless. Yes, he might gossip, and expletive-laden debriefings the spirit of Veronica Franco. she visited him after his move to L.A., Phalanxes of studly, stubbly assistants it himself. He laughs often and uniquely, keep doing Bones. Sure, he could keep of disparate events. In one such meeting Veronica Franco or Marie Duplessis. she was standing on the Fox lot with wear designer jeans and tight T-shirts. a laugh so infectious it should come with doing The Finder. He could even, and might between Nathan and Hanson, ostensibly She is orange, small, and elegant, him, taking it all in, marvelling out loud Even the aging Ecuadorean waiter at the an antidote, and he’s just as likely to stop even, do both while also developing new to talk about how to overcome a plot a golden-lab beagle mix— at the magic and strangeness of it all. cafeteria exudes the class and rectitude of and talk for ten minutes to the guy who network shows. Or, more tantalizingly, glitch in one of the final Bones epi- I do not know why she comes to me. “Well, mom,” said Hanson, “what do a Spanish James Mason. We haven’t even really is delivering the fruit and pastries as he could turn all or part of his creativity sodes of the season, Nathan (a show- I do not feed her and she is not my dog. you think?” come to the stars. Being gifted the sight he is to the network executive wanting to towards the darker, edgier world of cable, biz vet who launched his career by “I guess everybody has to try this of Sofia Vergara, in heels and a tight skirt, discuss a sixty-five million dollar season a move he acknowledges would satisfy originating the role of Jesus in the – Rodney Jones once,” she said. “I did it when I was mounting the short staircase to the Modern order. People pay attention to Hart Hanson part of his storytelling brain. musical Godspell off-Broadway in 1971), here in L.A. working as a chorus girl Family sound stage is to abruptly have one’s because he’s a powerful show runner, but “Hart happens to be on network now,” first offered up donuts baked by his dancer.” inner Neanderthal made flesh. Your flesh. people fuss over him because he himself his good friend, the SCTV alum Dave chef daughter, and then launched into “You WHAT?!” Amidst this live catwalk of the rich, can’t understand what the fuss is all about, Thomas told me one bright morning in the protracted, highly physical telling of a “That’s a relief,” said Hanson. She looked back at him, all 4’11’’ of her hip, and gorgeous, there is one person although if you follow the entertainment late January, as we sat outside at a Malibu joke he’d heard from Carl Reiner the night Nathan departed. Later that day, I utterly nonplussed. “Sure, I was a dancer, who appears oblivious to it all. He isn’t gor- news, you will know that due to recent coffee shop. “But Hart is an artist. He’ll be before, about two elderly Jewish gentlemen came across him in Building 1—he still a chorus girl, and I lived in Wittier, and I geous, doesn’t signal wealth and can’t be events there almost wasn’t a Hart Hanson on cable one day. The most exciting part sitting on a park bench, one of whom keeps had his pants on. always took the bus up here to this studio bothered to even learn what passes for hip. to fuss over at all. of watching him as a friend is wondering trying mightily, and failing, time after time and the other studios.” He is neither tall nor short. He wears plain On January 3, at approximately nine what he’s going to do next.” after time, to simply get up, all of which IT REMains UNDETERMinED IF GYpsY BLooD “Those are just a few of the stories glasses that are frequently askew. It is pos- a.m., the fifty-four-year-old Hanson was I asked Hanson, the next day, if he caused Hanson no end of merriment.