Why we love the
often shirtless and always absorbing Milo Ventimiglia.
When Tina Turner
said we don’t need another hero, she obviously had
never met Milo Ventimiglia, who plays power-absorbing
Peter Petrelli on NBC’s hit sci-fi series
Heroes (season 3 starts September 22). Also
loved for his roles as Jess on Gilmore Girls and
Rocky’s son in 2006’s Rocky
Balboa, the 31-year-old heartthrob reveals why gay
fans have always been powerless to resist him, and how
he’s saving the world -- one shirtless scene at
a time.
Welcome to your Big Gay Following interview.
Thanks, man. I was excited to hear you guys wanted to do
something with me. I was like, “OK,
cool!” I’m completely flattered.
When did you first realize you had gay fans?
It was way before Heroes or Gilmore
Girls. I was about 19 or 20 years old. I’d
done a short film when I was 18 called Must Be the
Music, where I played a gay teenager. I was shopping
with my mom and dad one weekend, and these two gay
guys came up and said they’d seen the film at a
film festival and they just thought I was great. That
was actually the very first time I’d ever been
recognized for anything. I’m glad that it was
my first meeting with a fan, because it wasn’t the
standard 14-year-old girl chasing me down; it was men who
were fans of the work. That was cool.
Did you get any teasing from friends for playing gay?
No, I never did. At the end of the day, I’m
playing a part, and there are many parts to play. I
would hope that if I’m playing a killer no one
would frown upon or tease me for that.
How did you prepare for the role?
I didn’t do much preparation; I got the
part and dove right in the next week, and we filmed in
a club called Arena in Hollywood. I’d always had
friends who were gay, straight -- just a huge mix of
friends—so I understood the story of what this
kid was going through. It was less about him being gay
and more about him meeting someone he’s interested
in.
After Gilmore Girls made you a heartthrob,
you played gay again in the 2005 horror film
Cursed. Any hesitations about taking that role?
No, I’m just into good characters. I just
read a script for a cross-country travel movie about
an interesting duo—a man on his way to being
transgendered has a friendship with this woman who’s
escaping a marriage. I had this meeting to play the
man who becomes transgendered. It’s such an
interesting role -- the psychology behind a person who feels
trapped in a body they don’t think they
should’ve been born into. The producer said to
me, “It’s very brave of you to consider
something like this.” And I said, “Why?
It’s a great role.” I tend to lean toward a
good role despite any stigma that’s possibly
attached to it. I mean, fuck, it’s 2008. The
fact that people are still worried about stuff like that
just baffles me.
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Voss is editor in
chief of HX magazine.