When the fire scene aired on “This Is Us,” the producer of “Art of Racing in the Rain” grabbed his phone and called Milo’s agent right then and there. Milo read the script that night and committed the next day.
When Milo Ventimiglia was in third grade, he applied to his school’s honors program. After the testing was complete, his parents were told that their son wasn’t as inherently gifted as the other young candidates. Compared to his bright pupils who’d scored perfectly, Ventimiglia had only managed to get roughly 70% of the answers correct.
“People look at me from the outside and go: ‘You’ve got a dream. You’ve got it easy,’ ” he says, “No. This is ... hard.”It’s a narrative that helps to explain why, at 42, Ventimiglia is just now starring in his first studio film. He’s been a steady presence in Hollywood for more than two decades, best known as a television actor: Before “This Is Us,” he had memorable roles on the long-running series “Heroes” and “Gilmore Girls.
“So Neil grabs his phone and just calls Milo’s agent right there,” Gabler continues. “‘Hi, it’s Neal Moritz. Can you tell me when Milo’s hiatus [from ‘This Is Us’] is?’ He found out his hiatus was perfectly timed; Milo read the script that night and committed the next day.”Growing up, Ventimiglia glorified movies. He dreamed of being 40 feet tall on the big screen — being the guy who people left their homes and paid money to see.
Ventimiglia is obsessed with the notion of “good guys” — of playing them and of being perceived as one in his off-screen life. On this Friday night, bouncing between various promotional events for his new movie, he pulls up at the Four Seasons in his black Porsche. Inside, at the hotel’s restaurant, he asks the waitress to clear the dinner table and tells her the space will only be used for conversation.
“I just don’t think I’m there yet,” he says. “Will I ever be ready? Who knows. Would I be a good dad? I’m sure I would. Hopefully. I came from a good father and good parents. I think it’s in my DNA to do it, but I haven’t yet.” “Right now,” he continues, “what I have going for me is playing America’s favorite dad — and we on ‘This is Us’ have an audience. And hopefully the bosses at these film studios are going, ‘Well, wait a minute, not only is that a popular show — so there’s a lot of eyeballs on him — but he’s talented.’ ”Curtis, the filmmaker behind “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” calls Ventimiglia’s casting in the movie his “Clooney moment — when an actor very well known on TV emerges as a film star.
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