HERO SHOTS

MILO VENTIMIGLIA took Hong Kong by storm on his first visit to the city, managing to give rein to his creative talents during a packed schedule of events. VIVIENNE TANG was hot on the multi-talented actor’s heels

IT’S LATE IN the afternoon and Milo Ventimiglia is still going strong, despite having stepped off a plane with jet lag at 5am. “Coffee and ice cream will have to keep me awake,” he says with a chuckle as we take some time out for a chat. The break is squeezed in between his three-day marathon of meetings, including a short visit to the Prestige Hong Kong office, a photo shoot, a press event at the newly opened Dior Peking Road boutique, and a fitting for the brand’s lavish opening party, which is the main reason he’s in town.
It’s the actor’s first time in Asia, and Ventimiglia wants to soak up as much culture as he can. He’s polite and down-to-earth, the kind of celebrity – though he refuses the term celebrity, preferring “public figure” instead – who seems genuinely glad to meet you.
“It’s a strangely uncomfortable thing,” he says about his fame. “I tend to forget that what I do for a living reaches a lot of people.”
That Ventimiglia has become one of Tinseltown’s most in-demand commodities is partly due to a combination of good looks and a healthy lifestyle (he doesn’t drink or smoke), and he’s been propelled to Hollywood-star status through acting work as Peter Petrelli in the TV series Heroes and as Jess Mariano in Gilmore Girls, as well as movie roles in Rocky Balboa – in which he played the boxer’s son – and Pathology.
There’s also his charm, which has helped catapult him into the hearts of thousands of fans – and which is evident even here, as people come out to grab a glimpse. Indeed, he’s constantly offering a helping hand: holding doors open for the crew or giving a photographer assistance with the tripod. He is, it turns out, experienced behind the camera too, having developed his creative skills as a director and producer through his production company, Divide Pictures, which he co-owns and operates with his best friend.
“It’s a strange thing for me still, being in front of the camera,” the half-Italian actor confesses. “I’ve been doing this long enough to understand what I need to do, but I like being behind it more. I just do.” Divide Pictures currently has a video game in development, and has produced what Ventimiglia calls “goofy little short films,” as well as two comic books, Berserker and Rest. The latter is based on a workaholic who volunteers to test an experimental drug that eliminates the need for sleep, and to Ventimiglia’s good fortune, it was recently sold as a pilot to NBC.
“We turned in our scopes, and we’re waiting to hear if the show is going to be picked up or not. Who knows? I would be executive producing it and starring in it.”
But acting, producing and directing aren’t his only pursuits. Witnessing his love of photography (the spreads featured here are evidence enough) is almost as captivating as watching him act. “I’ve always had a camera in my hand. I just like photographing things, people and places. And when I came to Hong Kong, I asked myself, ‘What cameras am I going to take? How many? Am I going to lug around a big bag of cameras, or am I just going to take two?’ ”
Ventimiglia has always had a number of diverse interests. He devours everything from books and newspapers to scripts and fashion blogs. “I want to know what the runway shows in Paris were like.” And these aren’t just distractions. He has the entrepreneurial interest to try and turn everything that sparks his interest into a fruitful business project.
“I’m sure at one point they’ll kick me out of Hollywood, and I’ll be designing furniture, which I’d love to do,” he says, laughing. “I have a good friend who’s a menswear designer. I always bounce my ideas and my crazy notion of being in design off of him, because that’s what he does for a living, and me, I just dream of it.”
He doesn’t get carried away by celebrity stardom. He prefers devoting his time to the more serious things in life, such as work. Like his comic character in Rest, self-proclaimed workaholic Ventimiglia prefers showing up at the office every morning while his Hollywood peers recover from their hangovers.
“There was a time when I wouldn’t sleep more than three or four hours a night. I would go to work, work out, have hobbies, have a social life, family time, and people were trying to keep up with me. It’s about being cautious with your time.
“You know that the clock is always ticking forward. You can never take it back. You can never go on reverse. You can’t fast forward. You’re exactly where you are at the moment you’re supposed to be. So it’s about embracing that and knowing what you want out of your life, knowing what you want out of the moment.”
That includes making time for causes that he believes in, such as his 2008 United Service Organizations tour in support of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, or things that he wants to be a part of. “For example, being in Hong Kong and being invited by Dior. I’m a fan of their line, the simplicity and function, but also just the class and grace of the brand.
“I think there’s a certain commodity that you have as an actor, as a public figure, and if you give too much of it, it takes away from what your craft is and the ability to transform in roles. If your persona is greater than the roles you play, then you’re just a personality, as opposed to an actor who plays a lot of different characters.”
His parents’ morals and values have influenced his personal lifestyle, and professionally there’s his respect for Will Smith. “Sitting down with him on his set for three minutes when I got a co-star one-line role,” he says, looking back at his first acting gig on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, “who he is as a man, as an actor, a producer, but most importantly as a human being…he’s a very kind, very gracious, very humble, commanding figure. I appreciate that about him, and I think he’s a nice role model for anybody in my industry, because first and foremost he’s a good human being.”
The film industry isn’t always as generous as Ventimiglia is in describing his co-stars. The business can be ruthless, but criticism doesn’t bog him down. “It’s a very interesting thing when what you do is subject to somebody else’s opinions. Everyone has an opinion. What makes one person’s opinion more valid than another? It doesn’t really matter.
“I try to embrace the bad as much as the good. It doesn’t disappoint me. It is what it is. Otherwise, you get engrossed with it, and you start believing your own hype – good or bad. And then you doubt yourself or you herald yourself. And then what have you become? There’s my job and what I do for a living, and then there’s who I am as a human being. And hopefully who I am as a human being will leave a much more lasting impression. I do my best. I do what I can, and some people are going to hate it, and some are going to love it. It’s not up to me.”
For now he’s delighting us with his performance in his next movie, apocalyptic thriller The Divide (directed by Xavier Gens, who did Hitman). “It’s about nine people stuck in the fallout and how society kind of unravels when you’re stuck in your own tomb.” The movie debuts on the festival circuit this month at the South by Southwest Film festival in Texas.
What’s next? Does Ventimiglia have a 10-year plan?
“I did. When I was a kid I knew that they were going to make another trilogy for Star Wars, and I said, ‘I’m going to play Anakin Skywalker.’ Didn’t happen. But I’m still a fan of Star Wars. It’s not really a topic you think about. It’s not about, ‘Hey, I want to win an Academy Award,’ any more. It’s like, ‘Hey, I’d love to do an Iron Man.’ ”
If the power of thought is any indication of his abilities, we’ll soon be able to see another blockbuster from this hero.

(source : http://www.prestigehongkong.com)

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I hope NBC will air Rest.
I so need more Milo. <3
Does anyone know a date for "The Divide" release ?
Virginie
xoxo