[Castagna]

Thanks for all the news!
Loved the Megan Mullaly interview

[Roswell 10/2/00]

Wishing you all Happy Holidays and here is to a Happy Healthy and safe New Year! Thanks for all you do in making the Roswell Board a success!



Love your Roswell MODS,
Erin and Jen

[TheBRMC]

heres clips where milo is in csi

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-W9n6aDHjD0

[TheBRMC]

here are clips where milo is in american dreams

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qyRc7I6_B8g

[TheBRMC]

rotten tomatoes interview

YouTube - Milo Ventimiglia - Interview on Rotten Tomatoes

[TheBRMC]

milo on extra

YouTube - NBC "Heroes" Ali Larter Milo Ventimiglia Breakout Stars

[Kelly_mv]

TheBRMC- thanks for the links! I'll add the interview one to todays news

Erin- thanks for the card

Originally Posted by TheBRMC (View Post) milo on extra YouTube - NBC "Heroes" Ali Larter Milo Ventimiglia Breakout Stars

That's great they chose him, but the video cuts just as they start to talk about him

[Roswell 10/2/00]

The Rotten Tomatoes interview was wonderful. Really great interview.

I wish the breakout stars didn't cut of when they were talking about him I am interested in what thye have to say.

Loved the CSI clips being I hadn't seen those before and American Dreams what can I say loved his character Chris on that show but then again it was a great show why NBC cancelled it is beyond me but at least now we have Heroes!

Kelly you are very welcome! Glad you enjoyed the card!

Hope all is well.

Love,
Erin

[Kelly_mv]

Here is a new interview from moviesonline. It's a lot of what we've already seen, but there are a few parts that are new:

Milo Ventimiglia Interview, Rocky Balboa

By Sheila Roberts / Source

MoviesOnline recently caught up with actor Milo Ventimiglia at the Los Angeles press day for his latest film, "Rocky Balboa,” in which writer/director/star Sylvester Stallone returns to the character that launched his career and became a cultural icon around the world.

Milo Ventimiglia stars as Robert Balboa, Jr., Rocky’s only son who has spent his life trying to emerge from his father’s famous shadow. The actor, who has worked primarily in television the past decade on such series as "Gilmore Girls” and "Heroes,” notes that as in the original film, Rocky starts the tale down and out. "He’s got to turn things around but he needs the people he loves at his side,” says the young actor. "And they’re not there. This film really connects emotionally with the first one. They’re both simple, human stories.”

Ventimiglia is currently one of the stars of NBC’s acclaimed drama series "Heroes,” playing Peter Petrelli, a male nurse and politician’s younger brother who is plagued by nightmares that he can fly. "Heroes” follows the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities.

Ventimiglia recently starred in Tom Fontana’s series "The Bedford Diaries,” which focused on a group of college students in a human sexuality class. He quickly garnered attention when he joined the casts of two critically-acclaimed television dramas: "Gilmore Girls” as the quiet and complicated Jess and NBC’s "American Dreams” as a 1960s war radical. He was also a recurring character on David E. Kelley’s drama "Boston Public.”

Before joining "Gilmore Girls,” audiences became familiar with Ventimiglia when he starred in the Fox series "Opposite Sex,” which secured him a holding deal with Warner Bros. His other television credits include guest-starring roles on primetime series such as "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” "C.S.I.,” "Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” and "Promiseland.” Segueing effortlessly between the big and small screen, Ventimiglia’s passion for the art of acting keeps him drawn to both studio and independent features. In addition to "Rocky Balboa,” his film credits include the Disney film "Stay Alive”; the Wes Craven/Kevin Williamson thriller "Cursed”; the indie film "Dirty Deeds”; "Sheer Bliss”; and "Massholes.”

Additionally, he starred in the short films "Nice Guys Finish Last” and ‘Must Be the Music,” which debuted at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. He currently resides in Los Angeles and enjoys skateboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding. He also has a passion for restoring vintage muscle cars. Milo is a fantastic guy with a great sense of humor and we really appreciated his time. Here’s what he had to tell us about starring opposite Sylvester Stallone in the final chapter of the Rocky franchise:

Q: So you’re the trouble maker for the hero.

Milo: Yeah, Peter the troublemaker. (referring to his "Heroes” character)

Q: Did you grow up watching these films and what was it like being in one?

Milo: I did. I was negative one when the first one came out. But, by the time the 2nd, 3rd, 4th one… I pretty much grew up in the Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago era (boxers in Rocky 3 and 4). That was more my time. I’ve always been a fan of the films, even the fifth which I think some people didn’t care for as much as the first four. I’ve always enjoyed them. I thought they were great, entertaining, and I really got into the underdog story and how if your mind is in the right direction and your heart is full of the right kind of stuff, then you’ll succeed. You’ll triumph over adversity, over anything.

Q: How was working with Stallone?

Milo: There’s kind of that fright and excitement all at the same time. When you first meet someone of his stature where it’s literally, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m in the room with Sylvester Stallone.’ But he disarms you. He looks you in the eye when he talks to you and he speaks clearly and he’ll make you laugh and he’s very kind and warm-hearted. So, being on the set with him and actually going through the process of playing his son….he created a world of comfort so that I could play the part and be expressive.

Q: How hard was it to follow in the tradition of Sage Stallone?

Milo: Sage Stallone and two others. If you’re gonna talk about Sage, you’ve gotta talk about two other actors that played Robert Junior. I think, if you look at the previous films where Robert Junior is around, the conflict, the struggle that he had to deal with, I think there were only positive things for me to learn and to grow from and to build on top of what those previous actors had created.

Q: Did Sly mentor you in any way?

Milo: I think I had the great good fortune to watch Sly the artist. To really watch him in all arenas; as an actor, not many people get to see him turn that character on. They don’t understand that he’s playing a role and when he turns that role on, he gets a very slow look in his eye and a sweet smile on his face in the way that he approaches the world. To read the script that he wrote and see him composing those shots, I took it as an opportunity to quietly watch, quietly observe someone that had created this world, that knew the world so very well but, at the same time, comfortable enough to where, if I had ideas, if I had thoughts, that I could go up and talk to him. He really did create an environment that was welcoming of ideas and welcoming of suggestions, and welcoming of wanting to bring ideas that were going to better the film and going to make it wholer and more rich and more real and more accessible I think to anybody. That’s what these films really are. They’re accessible to people.

Q: Any fatherly advice on a personal level?

Milo: I still have phone conversations with him and we touch base and check in with one another. I learned about a month and a half ago that he watches the TV show that I’m on (Heroes). That’s kind of an amazing thing when you hear that this person you got to work with and had looked up to for so many years is actually following what you’re doing. That’s a nice thing to know.

Q: What directions did Sly give you on set?

Milo: I remember that both of us, we have a little problem with our mouths, crooked mouths. I remember him telling me (in Sly voice) ‘make sure your mouth is warmed up because it’s cold out’. You could see the two of us when we were filming in Philly, standing in front of heat lamps just (demonstrates ooowwww, ahhhh ) moving our mouths. Otherwise, it freezes up which was kind of nice. We got to bond on that. We both have the crooked mouth and if it’s below 32 we’re ****ed and our face freezes up. So to see he and I before a take, we’re outside in Philly where it’s 20 degrees just owwwww, ahhhh. He had a lot of great advice. He just created that warm, welcome environment to want to bring this character to life, to do something amazing and magical with it that hadn’t been done before.

Q: Your character is a little embarrassed when his dad wants to come out of retirement. Has a relative ever done something that embarrassed you and, if so, what would you do about it? Would you talk to them or just ignore it?

Milo: I wouldn’t ignore it. I think ignoring something that’s bothering you is like putting a band-aid over the Grand Canyon. It’s doesn’t really cover it. It doesn’t really heal. It doesn’t solve anything. Without a name, of course I’ve had family, I’ve had friends, I’ve had people put me in embarrassing, compromising situations but I think, when you talk to somebody and you’re up front with them and you tell them how it made you feel, with anything, hopefully there’s an understanding and a want [on their part] to not do that again.

Q: Can you talk a little about the emotional scene outside the restaurant where your character tells Rocky how he feels?

Milo: We were sitting and talking in his office in L.A. before we started to film, talking about individual scenes and when that particular scene came up, we started discussing Robert’s problem, the way he was viewing his life, his relationship with his father, everything, just his world and Sly said to me… he was talking about the boxing world, ‘It’s not about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward’ and it’s funny see that line live as the top of the trailer.

It relates so much to what the kid needs to hear and the emotion that was going on in that scene. I know both Sly and I were welling up even when we were rehearsing it because there is so much coming to a head at that moment. There’s so much importance on that one conversation that’s gonna serve as a starting point of where this father/son relationship goes. The emotion, I can tell you, looking into Sly’s eyes when we were doing that scene, man, he was right there, and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to give it right back to him.
Q: Is this perfect timing for you with "Heroes” taking off?

Milo: Not so much perfect timing as just an odd coincidence. Honestly, every day I just try to show up and do the best work I can do and focus on the work of the day. I think a lot of actors will be enticed, be excited by the prospect of what accolades the job they’re working on is going to bring them, what awards or party invitations it’s gonna bring them. For me, I think I was just fortunate enough to be in some great company and to be a part of some projects that people are enjoying and looking to for entertainment and education.

Q: Are you surprised at how well "Heroes” has done and can you tell us what might be coming up for some of the characters?

Milo: If I were to say I was surprised at how well the show is doing, I’d probably look like an idiot. From day one of reading the script, "Heroes” blew me away. Just the surprise of the twists, the turns, character development and the build, I really was blown away and then add everything else, the writers, the production team and all the directors that have come through, it really has just grown into this wonderful world. It does stretch across, an American influence or an American appreciation where I hear about people in the U.K., in Australia, Asia is really looking forward to the show having seen bits and pieces of it.

Q: What can you tell us about what’s coming up?

Milo: What’s coming up? I guess I’d just have to say, if you were blow away by what you saw in the first half of the season, you’re really going to be blown away by the second half. When there’s that fairy dust sprinkled on things and that excitement like ‘Are they really going to do this? Oh, my God, they just did it.’ It’s going to be kind of ‘hold your breath’ television.

Q: Did you get into boxing more after this film and what do you do to stay in shape?

Milo: I think, over the course of my life, I’ve seen a handful of boxing bouts on television with some friends but I never followed it too much. I saw my very first match when I was in Vegas and we were shooting the film. We saw Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor fight and what was I think the bigger surprise to me wasn’t the match itself but the fans and to see people just excited for the bloodletting. It kind of reminded me of Roman times where there’s a coliseum and people’s excitement to see if the lion was gonna get the gladiator. It was just an amazing spectacle. Keeping in shape now? With my work schedule, it’s tough to get to the gym but I get there when I can. I jump a lot of rope, don’t drink, do drugs or smoke so….

Q: No boxing for you?

Milo: No. I don’t want to get hit. (laughs) That was actually one thing watching Antonio and Sylvester for ten days. They hit each other and I realized, I don’t want to be a boxer so it’s kind of bob and weave as far as you can. Gettin’ hit is no fun.

Q: Rocky is such a big part of American culture. How did you feel when you got the part in this movie?

Milo: I met Sly. Actually, I auditioned and a week later, I met Sly and I had just moved back from New York to L.A. and had gotten in a car accident the night before and I remember driving away in my fully dented-up car, back to my house thinking ‘Oh, I think that went well. I don’t really know. Hopefully, it was good. I’ve gotta get my car fixed. I’ve gotta unpack some boxes.’ So I kind of put my mind off it and about an hour and a half, almost two hours later, I got a phone call from my agent (he starts singing the Rocky theme ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba… etc.) You know, and I’m like ‘Well, did I get it?’ He’s like ‘Hey, you got it, you got it. I got off the phone with Sly fifty minutes ago.’ ‘That was an hour ago.

You couldn’t call me an hour ago?’ ‘I was at lunch.’ Real excitement. I gotta tell you as an actor you’re constantly chasing jobs. You’re constantly chasing the work so when you finally get the job, it’s a very gratifying feeling and what’s important for a lot of actors to remember is it’s not chasing the job that’s the job, it’s actually just being on set and working. That’s your job. So getting the job is like, ‘Okay, that’s one thing down and now I’ve got two and a half month’s worth of work to do.’ Typically, when I get a job I’m like ‘Oh my god, I’ve got so much work to do.’ But it was really an exciting thing.
Q: It says here you enjoy restoring muscle cars.

Milo: Where did you learn that, online?

Q: It’s all in the press kit.

Milo: And that I also like wakeboarding and something else that I have no idea what the **** it is? (laughs)

Q: It’s a lie? (laughing)

Milo: Actually, no, I do. I have a great appreciation and affinity for classic ‘60’s cars. I think it’s gotten blown out of proportion. Do you ever wish that online you could browse your job history and could delete and erase it and start fresh? I’d love that if you could actually do that online and get rid of any of the stuff that, when I was young, trying to build a resume, you have a special skills section on your resume and it’s gigantic when you first start but, as you build up with work, it gets slimmer and smaller but yes, I love classic cars.

Q: What do you have?

Milo: I have a ’67 Chevelle Super-Sport. Her name is Evelyn.

Q: Any other interesting hobbies besides wakeboarding?

Milo: Yeah, wakeboarding on the back of my Chevelle. I’m really into photography. I like photography. I actually got a picture that I took on set from Rocky published in Entertainment Weekly… in the holiday movie preview is a picture of Sylvester in the cemetery sitting in front of Adrian Balboa’s grave. That was my picture. They trimmed about three inches off the side and they cropped it and I was so upset. It was supposed to be a two-page spread and the photo editor called and said, ‘Hey, Milo, we lost an ad page. It’s going down to one page from a two-page spread.’ I’m like ‘Okay, well, it’s a pretty wide frame. How much is an ad page worth? Can I just buy one and make up a company like inflatable bananas and, all of a sudden, I’ve got my two pages back? Can I do that, please?’ But, photography is my hobby. I like taking pictures.

Q: Digital or film?

Milo: I haven’t really gotten into digital. I’ve tried but I like film. I’m a big film guy. I just got an assignment for a magazine where it’s all Polaroid. That’s cool to capture a different medium and different format. My style of photography I like to see the way that we see as people. I like to see a large range as opposed to just a little box.

Q: Was the ad page too expensive for you?

Milo: About twenty-thousand dollars too expensive. It’s one of those things. I was happy that the picture was used. I was happy that they were excited about it and I spoke to Sly to get his permission because after I took the picture, I blew one up and sent it to him. I have this really cool message from him that I saved and have in my computer now. I was happy that he thought it was a good representation of the film. I said to him about the possibility of it getting into Entertainment Weekly which has a large circulation and I think would be a good thing to be part of. I said ‘Sly, a lot of people are going to buy tickets to see this movie.

They’re going to see it on spectacle, they’ll see it because they want to see it because they know the legacy and the history of these movies, but people that are going to view you as an artist are going to be intrigued by a photograph like this and the picture is as much yours as it is mine.’ Because I literally took my camera and put it right up against where he placed his camera and I took the picture of him. So that was kind of a fun thing.
Q: Do you want to write or direct?

Milo: I’m a terrible writer. I have directed before. I’ve done some stuff for Warner Brothers and I have a couple of things coming up in the hopper. I favor the other end of things. I like producing. I like directing. I’m terribly nervous in front of a camera. It’s a nerve-wracking thing to be bare naked with your emotions and have it documented on film forever. So the prospect of being on the other side of the camera has always been very enticing to me.

Q: Could you resist the urge to run up the steps and ‘do the Rocky’ in Philadelphia?

Milo: Well, I didn’t run, I walked. It was my last day of filming and it was right before it was about to snow and I was about to get on a plane. As I’m walking up the steps of the museum, I see tens, twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, almost a hundred people running up and down the steps jumping up and down with their arms [up] and I’m like ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. Seriously?’ And I watched it and, as I got closer, I realized it was our film crew with all the locals of Philadelphia. And anybody that day could come out and run up the steps and they put all of these people at the end of the movie which is great. I think it was such a generous thing to give back to Philadelphia.

Q: Is there a cast member on "Heroes” that you haven’t had a chance to work with yet that you’d really like to work with?

Milo: Leonard Roberts, Ali Larter. I think I’ve worked with everybody else. That was the nice thing about my character. I got to bounce around. But I haven’t worked with Ali or Leonard or Noah yet.

Q: Thank you.

Milo: Thanks, guys.

[Kelly_mv]

Here's a little Christmas present for you all

Milo is featured in the January/February issue of Player Magazine:



HEROES' FLY GUY - Milo Ventimiglia
by Alexander Dubois

Milo Ventimiglia, the 29-year-old co-star in the new hit show Heroes, and Rocky’s son in the new film Rocky Balboa, is not your typical Hollywood type. His big dream is not to create a frenzy of media attention and be smothered with public adulation. No, Milo’s focus is on doing good work—actually, great work if he can—and being recognized by his peers as a hard-working guy with integrity. So here’s an actor who tends to go against the grain in Hollywood. You won’t see his name often in the gossip pages, caught among media-starved celebs carousing in clubs and looking for photo ops. Not that Milo doesn’t enjoy going out, but his acting, directing and production work with his company, Divide, leave little time for partying. Not to mention that he abhors the whole celebrity-for-the-sake-of-being-a-celebrity scene (and that he doesn’t drink or smoke). Milo would rather be advancing his career, hanging out with friends in quiet places, or cooking at home (but no meat—he’s a vegetarian), than providing fodder for the paparazzi lenses.

In 1995, his first acting gig was in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and he later had small roles on film and TV, such as those in CSI Las Vegas and Opposite Sex. He came to broader attention in 2001 for his role as Jess Mariano, a wild youth, in Gilmore Girls. This was the first chance for the public to get a good look at the promising young actor. After leaving the show in 2003, he’s had various acting roles, including being cast in American Dreams and having guest appearances on Gilmore Girls, but he’ll remember two events in 2006 as marking a big year in his career path.

The first was the hit show Heroes, a show about ordinary people who discover that they have superpowers. The second, his role in Rocky Balboa, was a big opportunity for Milo to establish his star-power on the big screen. In the movie, Milo, playing Rocky Balboa Jr., watches his father make one more attempt to become the champion and a hero to the people. In real life, despite his boyish good looks, Milo has grown up. With two roles that are pushing him further toward stardom, he is now pursuing his own big dreams. If Milo gets there, will he be our new hero?

What at tracted you to Heroes? On the surface, a story about cartoon character superheroes does not necessarily sound like a winner.
Well that’s the thing though. It was called Heroes, not Superheroes. Tim King had written this wonderful piece about human beings going through a change that was affecting their lives; being presented with abilities that were fearful and exhilarating. It’s like, what would you do if you had the opportunity to fly or the ability to fly? Or if you could read people’s thoughts? You could use it for good or you could use it for bad. So he had written this fantastic character study, the foundation of which is just the human element, the human perspective of what would you do? You have a very real world and then you have these unrealistic happenings that make it special.

So you were impressed right off the bat?
My agent said, “I read that script and it’s amazing. You should do it.”

Did you think this had the kind of potential that’s being realized now?
I saw the void in what television is today. I saw what people were missing. I saw that people wanted something to liven up their days without thinking about war and terrorism and all that’s going on. People were looking for a lighter place to turn to. They were hungry for something truly heroic as opposed to what’s questionably heroic.

Is it gratifying as an actor to be part of a show that is really taking off?
It’s nice to know that I’m doing my job well enough to get accolades with the group that I’m with—all the actors, producers, camera people, props, grips, you know, everybody as a team. And the great part, too, is we have a lot fun on the set. We work our asses off, but we really, really enjoy ourselves.

How much does a good working environment influence the final performance?
It helps a lot. I mean, if you are miserable doing something, people are going to see through it, they really are.

How about the other way around. Have you ever had to work with an actor where you didn’t get along or you just didn’t click?
Yes, but at the same time you have to know how to get around that. I give as much and everything that I can to a scene. If that person gives it back to me and that reciprocity is there, it’s amazing. But if not, I am not going to let their performance or their lack of wanting to rise to the occasion mess up mine. I take my job very seriously and I won’t accept a lousy performance from myself.

On Heroes, do you sometimes speak up when a line doesn’t work?
I would never approach a writer with the script and say this is wrong. If something didn’t sound right—and not that it doesn’t sound right to me, but that it doesn’t sound right to come out of the character—I might bring it up. I had a writer say to me one time, “You know, Milo, you are going to know more about this character the first five minutes of playing him than I will ever know in writing him.” I was blown away by that, because it was him giving me a lot of responsibility and respect for what he was going to be writing for me, for us. So I think I always try to approach parts that I play with the importance of the character in mind. What is right for them. But in this industry you have to work together. Granted, you know, I am not beyond saying to somebody, look, that doesn’t sound right.

That’s difficult to do.
Of course, but I’m a diplomat. I’m not here to hurt anybody’s feelings, I’m here to make whatever we’re doing the best possible, the best thing that we can do.

Does the writer ever come up to you and ask about your ideas?
It depends on the situation. It’s nice to build a character together with somebody and take notes and walk in and say, hey, I was thinking this. It’s nice because you know that they respect what you bring to the table. There are some writers, however, that what’s on the page is what’s on the page and it’s not going to change. I’ve never responded well to that. I’m not really a puppet with someone’s hand moving my mouth, telling me what to do, I’m not like that.

In an ideal world, should an actor have some input into the creative process?
In an ideal world, yes. Some people think that actors are difficult because they have opinions. You hire actors because they have opinions, because they care, because they are there to interpret the words. And if you don’t like the way they are interpreting it, fire them and find somebody else.

And I imagine, actors also want feedback about how they are doing.
Absolutely. If you are not told when something is bad, you are going to continue in the bad habit. I’m not going to be able to fix it unless you tell me what I did wrong. And I’m going to keep doing it, you know? It’s the same thing on the set. If an opinion that I have, an idea that I have isn’t good, I’m not beyond someone saying, we don’t like that, we’re not into it. Okay, what about this one? No, okay. What about that one? Oh yeah, that’s interesting.

How did you get the gig for Rocky Balboa?
I was living in New York when I first heard about the new Rocky film. I had a meeting with a casting agent and just went in and read on tape. A week later I’m in the room with Sylvester. And you walk in and he’s got that deep voice and he shakes your hand and his hand just wraps all the way around your hand. And literally, you are just like, holy ****, this is Sylvester Stallone—megastar, megastar. So we’re sitting in the room with him, the casting directors are there and I apologize that I’m not clean-shaven because I’m doing re-shoots on a film. Sly says, “It’s not biblical, is it?” And I’m like, “No, no, it’s not.” And we shared a laugh. And he leans over to the casting director and says, “His lip even hooks down like mine does” and I’m like, “Was that acceptance?”

Then what?
I sat around at home for maybe two or three hours waiting to hear something. Finally my agent called and I’m like, “Did I get it?” And he’s like, “Yeah, you got it.”

They tell you that fast?
It came really quick. I had my audition, a week later I was in the room with Sly, that afternoon I had the job. It was unbelievable.

He used to have a reputation about being difficult to work with.
I’d heard stories, but from my experience with Sly, it’s much different. He recognizes that you are an artist too and he’s collaborative. You just have to listen to what he wants. He’s the writer, director, producer, actor, star. So I’m like, okay, how can I best serve the material? How can I best serve the story? How can I best serve the performance? And that’s the way I approached it. He was just a charm to work with.

When you read that, did you think this is the original Rocky again?
Well, the other Rockys, they were just big budget shows. When you are a kid, you enjoy it. I think a lot of people gave him hell for the last Rocky. I think that turned out even differently than he had originally thought. So this was an opportunity to change people’s minds back to what he did in the late ‘70s. I read the script and it was an amazing story about a man trying to connect with his family again and get back to the heart of what drove him as a young man. So I really bought into it.

You are also learning for all these other roles—producer and director—that you really want to pursue.
Absolutely! So I basically shut up and watched.

What was it like working with Stallone?
Working with Sly was great. He’s truly very talented, very professional, a very cool guy to be around. I think he’s an incredibly talented actor, writer and director. It was cool being with him on the set. That was a great experience for me. I was watching when he was setting up shots, composing these beautiful, beautiful pictures. I really hope that this film and hopefully the press surrounding it will give people a different perspective on him.

What kind of a guy is Stallone on a personal level?
He’s a very warm person, which is nice. I’m into photography and I took a handful of pictures on that set and I took this really cool picture of him in the cemetery with the hat on. It’s this big panoramic shot and it’s from behind him and there’s Adrian Balboa’s grave. Entertainment Weekly wanted to run it on a two-page spread. But I had to get Sly’s permission. I called him up and I’m like, “Sly, this is Milo,” and before I could even get a word out he says, “Hey, I’ve been watching your show, this new hero is really amazing.” And he kind of went on and on and I’m thinking to myself, he’s actually a fan of a show that I’m doing and he watches it.

It must be great when a megastar takes your call.
Absolutely. And Sly starts talking about the cinematography, and the stories and my character. That blew me away. It was a nice moment to know that he was even looking beyond the one experience we had on a film set to see what I was doing. I was very happy with that.

How did you get into acting?
I did plays when I was young. I’ve always enjoyed performing. A friend of my mother took some pictures and sent it to an agent. The agent starting repping me and I slowly started building a career.

What’s it like acting for a living?
I love it. I also love being anonymous, but it doesn’t bother me if someone walks up and complements a job that I’ve done. If someone says “Hey, I love your show, I love your work, I saw this and I saw that,” it’s pretty cool. But at the same time I’m a normal person like anybody else. Acting is my job. And just because my job is in your home at least once a week and I’m 17 inches tall when you see me, it doesn’t make my job any different than anybody else’s.

Do you try to think ahead for your next projects?
It’s important to maintain focus. If you are worried about what the next job is and you are not focusing on the one you are working on, how is that going to be good? You have to keep your head on the one that you are working on.

Have you ever turned down a script that looked like crap and then are surprised it did well? Or did it pret t y much look like crap and it was crap?
If it looked like crap, it was crap. The fun thing to do is to identify writers and talent that, given the right circumstances, the right money or input, they can really do something great with it. I’ve been in the business 11 years so I’m fortunate to have great people who want to work with me.

How about the whole Hollywood life? You have to deal with a lot of people that are very pretentious, overly artsy, taking themselves a little too seriously.
There’s a lot of pretension and a lot of people buying their own press. You see people that are too concerned about the image of it as opposed to what the real nature of the business is. But there’s also a lot of really talented, really cool people in this industry that bust their asses.

Let’s talk about Gilmore Girls, where you were cast as sort of the bad boy.
Reckless youth, misled youth, troubled youth, yes. That was the first job where I really was put into the public eye, where I was on a show regularly. With Gilmore, I had a two-year contract, they wanted six years and I said no. Gilmore was one of those things where two years was just the right amount of time and they went for it, so I went for it.

As an actor just getting established, why would you choose a less secure route?
In this business, you never know where your nex t job will come from, if at all. It put me in a position of, okay, I’ve got two years to bust my ass and make a difference in my own career. And by the end of the first year they started lining up a spin-off for my character, so I would have my own show on the network. I had worked at Warner Brothers for years. I’ve had contracts with them since I was 21 years old, whether on a TV show or a holding deal or a development deal or something and one contract would kind of piggyback off the next. I knew that at a certain point I had to mature beyond that. And that’s what happened, the character kind of matured and it was like he had served his purpose.

What did you do afterwards?
After Gilmore, I went to NBC Universal with a show called American Dreams, which is a great show about the ‘60s, a very turbulent time. And it was just an amazing show that nobody watched, a beautiful, beautiful show, one that was wonderfully acted, written and directed. I was on it for a year and the show got canceled. And then Heroes came up because of the relationship I had with the director, who was one of the executive producer/directors from American Dreams. They couldn’t find the guy to play my character and they looked at everybody. And the funniest part is, I was the last guy they looked at. They had no choice, which kind of cracks me up, but I think it worked out okay.

Between the acting and your production company, you must not have much time for rest.
Seriously. I had a 20-hour day yesterday. I had a shoot this morning, some possible meetings tonight and then I’m working tomorrow, the following day and then I’m on a plane to the East Coast on Sunday. So it’s literally like non-stop, non-stop, non-stop. I don’t sleep much, maybe three or four or five hours a night. The hard part of all this is balancing my time. I just have a lot of work on the horizon. If I only had acting to worry about I’d have plenty of time in my day. I work three shifts basically. I got the acting gig on Heroes, my production company, Divide, and then having a personal life. My partner in Divide takes a lot of the day-to-day responsibility for the company, but still there are a lot of things that get funneled through me and through relationships that I have so I still have to make a lot of the phone calls and emails. I won’t see a vacation coming for the next couple of years outside of a long weekend or something.

Are your goals mostly in acting or is it a combination of ‘I want to thrive as an actor’ and ‘I want to thrive as a production company?’
They all work together. For roughly nine years I was successful in the sense that I didn’t have to wait tables anymore. I was an actor, I was actually paid, I bought a house, things like that. So the production component started to pop up a little more. I became more interested by the business of it, getting behind the camera. I directed some things for Warner Brothers, some marketing campaigns that go in between the commercials in the show. I directed those for two years. And I’m directing a campaign for a Fortune 500 clothing company that was looking for original content.

You must have made personal sacrifices to accommodate all of this work?
I grew up skateboarding and snowboarding and surfing and my friends and I used to go do crazy, stupid things. I quit years ago, because of liability. I thought, “Is it worth it to go out and enjoy myself, go down a mountain, potentially get really hurt and mangled, versus the money that I could be making in my career?” What’s ultimately going to support a family within this business?

You don’t mind putting in all those hours?
I like working, I enjoy what I do. I enjoy the people that I work with and I know that if I bust my ass now, it is going to pay off into my late to mid 30s, 40s and 50s, to where hopefully I have a production company that’s completely self-sufficient and barely needs me to check in.

Is your goal to produce features—is that the big fish you hope to land?
You know what? It’s business. I’m happy with any combo of what I’m doing. I just want to work. If it’s acting and producing, great. If it’s producing and directing, great. Or acting and directing, great. If it’s acting on its own, directing on its own, producing on its own, that’s great too. Ultimately I’d love to produce and direct and be in movies for my friends. Whether that means I’m playing a bellhop for one hour of one day of a year’s shoot or I’m in a film that’s going to take me eight months to shoot, that’s good too. As an actor you try and surround yourself with a lot of support and talent and hope you give as much to them as they are to you.

You just want the business to work. You don’t care what shape it takes.
As long as I can make a steady income that will help me support a family as I get older, that’s what I want to do.

The pictures used:

[Shanti70]

Thanks so much for that Kelly. What a wonderful Christmas present. Is it on the newsstands now?

[heroineaddict]

Originally Posted by Kelly_mv (View Post) Here's a little Christmas present for you all Milo is featured in the January/February issue of Player Magazine:

Wow. Fantastic article, and adds such depth and perspective! Thanks for the scoop, Kelly. I'd never heard of Player Magazine, and will go look around newstands here. Doubt I'd find it but who knows? I could be lucky if it's a more general entertainment rag.

MERRY CHRISTMAS y'all!

[mibagel]

Thanks Kelly, That is the best Christmas present ever. There is a lot of new information in there which is very interesting to read and he really is a very grounded young man.

[ramgirl]

I love, love the Player magazine interview and pics they used...they asked a lot of different questions...and he reveled the name of his production comapny!!!

The Rottentomatoe interview was nice too,

and too bad the extra clip cut off right before they were going to talk him, but at least they picked him for a breakout star.

[Liliya]

Thanks for posting all that Kelly.

I love the pictures in the Player magazine, and the cover pic that they used. Milo looks really good, as usual. I loved reading the interview.