By Christina Radish

As Dr. Lance Sweets on Bones, John Francis Daley has become a more integral part of the Fox television series, since first starting out as a guest star. Acting since the age of nine when he was cast as Young Tommy in the national and international tour of the Broadway smash hit The Who’s Tommy, Daley is best known for playing the lead role of Sam Weir in the critically acclaimed Judd Apatow-produced television series Freaks and Geeks. After working continuously in television, including series such as The Geena Davis Show, Boston Public, Regular Joe,  Judging Amy, Spin City and the Fox comedy series Kitchen Confidential, the Illinois native and his writing partner sold their first spec feature, The $40,000 Man, to New Line Cinema with Terry Zwigoff attached to direct, and they currently have several other film and television projects in development.

The 23-year-old Daley recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about whether or not Sweets will ever get the respect that he deserves.

MediaBlvd Magazine> How did your role grow to become that of a regular? What was that process?

John Francis Daley> The first episode that I did was the one where Sweets is in his office, talking to Booth and Brennan, and learning about their chemistry, for the first time. It was a very interesting episode for me because I’ve never played anyone with such a demanding profession before. I’ve played a chef and a leader, but never someone that works for something as elite as the FBI. It was interesting to have that combination of high stakes with his still coming into maturity, and having to deal with all that as a 22 year-old. That’s something I was immediately attracted to and, when I heard that there was interest in having me come on as a regular, I was very pleased because I’d immediately gotten very attached to the cast and the crew. They are such an amazing group of people to work with, and very rarely can you say that completely honestly, these days. Everyone is just a delight. So, when I did find out that I was going to be a regular, I was happy to know that I would be continuing to work with these people that are just so great to work with. 

MediaBlvd> This season, viewers learned a little bit about Sweets’ family background, including the fact that he apparently comes from carny folk. When they gave you that information, what did you make of it, as an actor? 

John> I had to take a step back and re-think my whole character. Honestly, I have no idea what they’re intending to do with him, in terms of that, but I’m very interested to see because not many times can you say that you have a character that comes from a family of carnies. 

MediaBlvd> What other information do you have about Sweets’ background that is going to be disseminated, in the episodes to come?

John> I know that we do learn a little more about his growing up in foster care, and of whatever happened to him before he was adopted. I can’t really go into specifics because it’s ultimately speculative on my part as well, but from what I can gather from the upcoming episodes, we are going to learn where he came from and what secrets he’s hidden along the way.

MediaBlvd> Since your father, R.F. Daley, is a veteran of Broadway, has that influenced your career, in any way? 

John> I feel like it absolutely has. When I was young and living in New York, on the weekends, I would go with my dad to where he worked, whatever show it would be. I’d be backstage, basically doing my homework, in that amount of time. So, I was surrounded by it at a very young age, and it was something that I had immediately become fascinated with and wanted to learn more about, until that fateful day when I was nine years old and asked my parents for an agent.  That’s where it all started. 

MediaBlvd> One of the running jokes of the show has been your incredibly young, good looks. Is that something you just roll with? Are there roles that you’ve missed out on because people thought you just look too young?

 John> I’m still not getting any roles for anyone’s grandfather or father, unless I have some weird Benjamin Button condition. So far, the roles that I’ve been going out for are basically my age, or a little younger. I definitely still have the youthful look, which many actors are thankful for, and I am as well.

MediaBlvd> Is there a lot of Sweets in you, and a lot of you in Sweets, or is he just a character for you?

John> I feel like Sweets is one of those characters where he’s very intelligent and has managed to work his way up the career ladder at an incredibly rapid pace, but at the same time, he’s still 22 or 23 years old, so we see traces of his youthfulness in the psychological mumbo jumbo that he’s usually spouting. I would say that those glimpses of his youth is where I come out, as just myself. Otherwise, he is definitely trying to restrain that side of himself and stay the most professional, respected person he can be because it’s the only way he can get his colleagues to take him seriously.

MediaBlvd> There’s a good comedic vibe between Sweets, Booth and Brennan. In addition to that, what do you like about the character?

John> Aside from that vibe where Sweets is constantly trying to get through to these people that don’t seem to take him very seriously, he is someone that is very, very stubborn and determined to be proven right, even if he’s wrong. And, that makes it funny because you see that this character is really willing to do anything to get respect and, usually when someone is willing to do anything for respect, they lose all respect to begin with. 

MediaBlvd> Is Sweets trying to get that respect by pushing Booth’s buttons so hard?

John> He also sees something in Booth that hasn’t yet been revealed, at least to him, and he is basically  waiting for Booth to let it all out. If that means Sweets getting punched by Booth, so be it, but I think that it’s definitely something that he will not give up on. He’s going to constantly push and push to get what he wants out of Booth.

MediaBlvd> Is it true that a lot of the little remarks that Booth hurls at Sweets in therapy are things that just comes out of David’s brain on the spot?

John> Oh, yes. But, I would say that for most of the scenes that David’s in. He definitely has a knack for rattling off new and interesting things. It always makes doing scenes with David really fun because people are encouraged to give their own flavor to the character and sometimes that involves ad-libbing, and doing things you wouldn’t normally expect from the character. 

MediaBlvd> Do you think Sweets and Brennan will ever connect over foster care? John> That’s what it seems like might happen because they do share that, and I don’t think we’ve necessarily seen a major connection between the two of them, on an emotional level, in terms of their past experiences. So, that definitely seems like something that the writers will explore in later episodes.                       

MediaBlvd> What do you think it’s going to take for Sweets to gain Booth and Brennan’s full respect, or do you think that can ever happen?

John> I think it’s always possible. They do respect him, but they have never told him to his face, and I don’t know if they ever will. It would take something like him taking a bullet for them to gain their full respect, up front.

MediaBlvd> Will Sweets ever try to get Zack (Eric Millegan) out of the mental hospital, now that Zack has admitted he didn’t actually kill anyone? 

John> I honestly have no idea. I haven’t been told about what will happen with Zack, but that would be very interesting if he did. I know that Sweets probably has some grief, in terms of keeping the incredibly heavy secret to himself, that Zack in fact didn’t kill anyone. 

MediaBlvd> Since you started playing this role, do you find yourself analyzing friends and family? 

John> Probably no more than I already did. You definitely start to hear yourself repeating phrases that you use on the show, and I know that can’t be very fun for my friends. But, the more annoyed by me they are, as a person, the more it will help my character. It’s all for the work.

MediaBlvd> Does having a great character name help you find out what the character is about?

John> It is about the goofiest character name that I’ve ever had, maybe until I do some cartoon.  Yes, it definitely puts an image of a person in your mind. My character has probably tried, his entire life, to display the exact opposite of the image that you think of, when you think of that name. It’s probably something that he’s been teased about all his life, and maybe the name is what got him into psychology, to begin with. 

MediaBlvd> What are you working on, outside of the show? What is happening with your band, and the screenplay you’ve been working on?

John> The band I’m with is starting up again this year. Everyone was out of town, in various countries, traveling the world and learning whatever they need to learn to become better musicians. I was just working on Bones. And, in terms of the writing, they’re going to actors and directors right now with our magician movie, Bert Dickinson. We’re doing a rewrite on The $40,000 Man, and my writing parter, Jonathan Goldstein, and I are in development with Disney and Scott Rudin for the Hours of Fun movie. So, they’re all in various stages of development or pre-production. Our fingers are crossed that one of them will become an actual movie.