‘The Company You Keep’: Milo Ventimiglia Thankful for ‘This Is Us’ Role but Had to ‘Let It Go’
The Company You Keep star Milo Ventimiglia is shedding light on how he transitioned from playing This Is Us‘ Jack Pearson to con man Charlie Nicoletti. The actor, who grew his rich fan base as one of the hit NBC family drama stars, knew there would be an adjustment to playing a new role. However, to do so, he had to release the role and “let it go.”
Milo Ventimiglia played Jack Pearson for six years on the NBC drama ‘This Is Us’
Throughout six seasons, Milo Ventimiglia and the cast of This Is Us found a level of trust in each other to take on some of the most challenging storylines of the family drama. These featured the topics of alcoholism, infant death, infidelity, the effects of war, teen sex, abusive relationships, weight issues, and death.
Also tackled were Rebecca’s (Mandy Moore) Alzheimer’s Disease, drug dependency, adoption, disability, divorce, mental health, miscarriage, remarriage, and LGBTQ rights.
However, between these tough topics were also tender family moments. There, Milo Ventimiglia proved to do some of his best work as This Is Us‘ Jack Pearson, a father who always tried to do the right thing for his family members.
After six seasons and dozens of challenging storylines, the show ended. Within two weeks, Ventimiglia transformed into a new role, con man Charlie Nicoletti, and started work on The Company You Keep. While he was thankful for his time embodying Jack Pearson, he had to “let it go” to embrace the new role fully.
Milo Ventimiglia was ‘thankful’ for ‘This Is Us’ role but had to ‘let it go’
This Is Us provided Milo Ventimiglia with a wealth of deep and rich storylines to draw upon as he played the Pearson family patriarch, Jack. However, as a working actor, he knew it was time to release the character to commit himself entirely to his new project.
In an interview for People Magazine, Ventimiglia explained his feelings regarding the switch between these completely different characters. For example, as television husband Jack, stunts were not a part of Ventimiglia’s shooting schedule. But, as Charlie, he’s already seen his share of action-packed events.
“I had a couple of injuries in the months we’ve been filming,” Ventimiglia admits. “I ran into a door with my face and split my eye open… and kneed a stone pillar and got an impact fracture on my femur. So yeah, different than holding babies and changing diapers!”
The actor referred to his This Is Us role as primarily doing the above tasks alongside co-star Moore. “I’m grateful for the experience of playing Jack,” he admits. “I think he gave an ideal to people, an attainable superhero. I miss aspects of the character and the show, like working with Mandy [Moore].”
“But like any job in the acting profession, you have to let it go,” he continues. “You perform, you put your heart into it, and then you have to be OK stepping away from it.”
‘The Company You Keep’ has already welcomed star power from ‘This Is Us’
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Milo revealed his new series wouldn’t take him too far from his This Is Us, family. The actor shared he was deeply connected to the cast and crew of the NBC series and wanted as many of them on board with The Company You Keep as possible.
“As this show took shape when we were developing a pilot episode, I walked around the This is Us set [on the Paramount Studios lot in LA], quietly having conversations with department heads. ‘Hey, you think you’d want to come on board and do this?’” he told EW.
“And people are like, ‘Yeah, I’d love to.’ I talked to [the] hair-and-makeup [department], I talked to the camera [operators], I talked to the grips and the electrics. Seeing the same familiar faces loading lights and gear and keeping the set safe is important to me.”
Jon Huertas, who played Milo’s best pal Miguel on the NBC series, has also joined the production. Thus far, he has directed two episodes of The Company You Keep. Jon starts his tenure with the show’s fifth episode.
In an interview with Access Hollywood, Milo Ventimiglia also shared his wish that Mandy Moore would be a part of his new ABC series. However, he already has her role in The Company You Keep figured out as a director. “I mean, can I get Mandy Moore behind the lens? Yes, I would love to,” he admitted.
The Company You Keep airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
