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| Milo was interviewed by the213.net:
Milo Ventimiglia: What's it like being Rocky's Kid?
Published: January 3, 2007
By Peter Sanchez
(213): You're a product of Orange County.
MILO VENTIMIGLIA: I was born in Anaheim and grew up in the city of Orange.
(213): You live in Los Angeles, do you miss the O.C.?
MV: My parents still live down in Orange County. For me, it was a great place to grow up. I think the pace of my life and what I look for nowadays, I don't know if Orange County is the place for me to live. I try and get down there as much as I can and see my family. I have a handful of friends that still live down there. But primarily, I work so much nowadays that people will come to Los Angeles to see me.
(213): You are officially part of the most famous underdog story in cinema.
MV: You know what? I think it's very cool. It is something I grew up with. It is something I think I always looked up to - these stories, these classic tales of Rocky. Being part of it is something that I never expected would happen.
(213): Did you have to audition for the role?
MV: Yeah, I did. I was living in New York and I got the call that I had the audition the day after I moved back to Los Angeles. I read for the casting directors and a week later, I was sitting down having a nice conversation with Sylvester and maybe an hour after he and I had met, I got the phone call that I got the job.
(213): Sylvester Stallone is one of only a handful of actors whose career has been defined by a role - in his case, both Rambo and Rocky. Is he more Rocky or Rambo?
MV: He is a physically imposing man. I think in prime condition, he is at fighting weight. He's got huge hands and he has just got a presence about him - a booming voice. I remember just kind of glancing at him and thinking of how he was going to get back in the ring. I see just how he going to do it because he is in such good shape.
(213): The subtle brilliance of Stallone's Rocky is he never overacts the role. Inevitably, the audience buys he is indeed Rocky.
MV: The character is very relatable to everybody. On the face, he is just this big brut of a man that people would be terrified of, but he has the heart of a lion with this kindness and this soul to him that really draws you in. I know that is something with Sylvester. He doesn't overact. Everything is subtle, very small, which keeps it very honest and very real.
(213): Did that effect your performance and approach?
MV: I think first approaching Robert Jr., he's this young man who wanted to separate himself from his father's successes. He wanted to not fall into the boxing world. He wanted nothing to do with the boxing world and actually shunned the boxing world because he didn't want to be defined by his father's successes. I think a lot of that, he created this jaded way of viewing his father, which is unfortunate because Rocky - all he wants to do is share some great moments with his son and with his family. But his son, Robert Jr., wasn't so giving of that. It is nice when he finally comes around and the characters do connect. As an actor, for me, I am not a big, excitable actor. I think a lot of the stuff that I do is very small and minute. I know that the way Sly was shooting this film, it lent itself to capturing what I am capable of as an actor - keeping things small and real and making the emotions as honest as possible.
(213): How was Sly to work with as a director?
MV: He was great. I was at an advantage because he was also the writer, so any questions with the script, he really did have the answers. He was very respectful and very appreciative of the process of acting, being an actor himself. He understood what we had to put ourselves through to get to a certain emotional level. He always had the right thing to say, in the right amount of words. Some directors say a little too much or not say enough. With Sly, it was just right. He knew the role. He knew the character. He also respected what I or any of the actors was going to bring. Somebody said that the actors were all kind of handpicked by him and I think it was a really big honor for him to point the finger at me and say that I could carry this. I wasn't going to let him down.
(213): Do you think Sly is comfortable with Rocky Balboa as being the bookend to his Rocky saga?
MV: Absolutely. We sat around and talked about the previous Rocky films and the life and the world that this character has become. I think the things that he was trying in number five, there was a little resistance to how that film turned out. We were talking about different story points that weren't attacked in the movie. I think there were some studio choices that he wasn't into. I think this one being a love letter to the first Rocky film, I would hope he is happy with it being a bookend to the first one and keep all the other films within it contained.
(213): Now that we have finished the business of Rocky, I have to ask what everyone is dying to know: when will you return to Gilmore Girls?
MV: I find myself in a precarious spot with this question. I am pretty busy working on Heroes right now and I am contractually obligated to NBC and Universal Television. I can't see myself going back to that show. A lot of the reasons why I did go back was an invitation by Dan and Amy Palladino to return to the show. They had some great storylines for me and I don't know the new producer, David Rosenthal, so I would imagine that going back and putting back on the leather jacket and pompadour of Jess Mariano is probably not going to happen. I'm sorry.
(213): I previewed the initial pilot of Heroes at Comic Con and knew that the show was going to be this season's Lost, even though at the time, NBC had their hype machine in full swing for Studio 60.
MV: We lucked out. All the pressure was put on Studio 60. Personally, being a fan of the show, I like Studio 60. I think it's arrogant and I'm a big Sorkin fan. I think they did us a favor by putting a lot of their attention on that show - as high profile and as good as it is. They wanted us to go do our job on Heroes and do it to the best of our abilities. In a way, we have been a bit of an underdog success out of the shows that have come around the same time.
(213): Because NBC did not expect the show to become an overnight blockbuster, it did allow the show to mature and not only retain its audience, but nurture it as well. But now it is expected to save the network. Do you feel the pressure now?
MV: I don't think I feel the pressure so much as I feel the excitement and people wanting it to satisfy what they are looking for on television. For me, of course, it means that we have a lot of work to do to go beyond where we started with the first 11 episodes. Often times, I will get a job and a lot of people will jump up and down and scream and click their heels and get excited about booking something. Me, I start shaking my head and put my face in my hands and think about how much work I have to do.
(213): One of the keys to Heroes success is the arch of your character, Peter Petrelli. Did the writers or producers give you any indication as to Peter's journey?
MV: I had no idea. I read the pilot as it was. I saw that at the end, Peter had no ability, but all I could assume was there was possibly Peter's ability to help others realize their powers. They always explained him as he had an impact. He had an empathetic nature. He could physically feel, emotionally feel, and mentally feel what people were going through and understand because he is a caregiver. He is a very nurturing person. Tim Kring pulled me off to the side at the up fronts and he looked at me and said, “We finally figure Peter out.” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “You take on other people's abilities. You are going to be able to do what everybody else does. You're the one.” He basically kind of pointed and said that I was going to be Neo from The Matrix and that I was going to be the most powerful of them all. I was just kind of like, “Holy ****.” That is a big responsibility. It is a lot to shoulder and it was a lot of weight to carry - to imagine that this character, who started off as a heavy dreamer - not knowing what he was supposed to do and where he was supposed to be putting his energy - and he would end up being the one that people would be looking to. It really was kind of a big punch in the gut. I was like, “OK, I have a lot of work to do.” Hopefully, I keep pulling it off and make him look heroic and be exciting or be sad at times.
(213): The cast seems so grounded for the level of success the show has sustained the first half of its debut season. Being a part of an ensemble piece like Heroes does alleviate some of the water carrying.
MV: Yeah, it is the most egoless group of people I've been around for a long time. It is really uplifting. It gives you hope that you can have a good time on set and no one is going to let their ego step in the way of the work. Oddly enough, I find myself, and on this show in particular, I am one of the veterans. I've been doing it a long time along with Greg Grunberg, Ali Larter, Hayden Panettiere, and Adrian Pasdar. We are the veterans of the group and they are the most easy going, family minded people ever. So I think starting with that foundation of the senior class being an example of this really fun, hardworking group of actors. I think we just set the pace from the beginning. From the producers all the way to craft services and the people that construct the sets, it is just a great group of people.
(213): What is the current Heroes shooting schedule?
MV: I got two days off, one day for the Rocky press and one day for the premiere. But I am back to work Thursday and Friday. Usually on the weekend, we have a simul unit working that will pick up shots because the shows are so large that the main unit can't get. Press and publicity and family and friends, social life, it is a pretty heavy schedule.
(213): So you haven't shot the remainder of the first season yet?
MV: When we break this Friday, we will be up to number 15. We are four episodes ahead and by the first of the year, we will probably be about five episodes ahead and six by the time we go back on the air.
(213): You saved the cheerleader. Will you indeed save the world?
MV: I hope so. I think so. I know a lot of people are always asking. “You saved the cheerleader.” We haven't saved the world yet, but we get to that. You've got to be patient. __________________ -Kelly |