Ask Milo Ventimiglia about filming Gilmore Girls with Alexis Bledel, and he remembers a bus on the Warner Bros. backlot. The two were boarding it for a scene, and the prop crew wanted to make the bag he carried as light as possible. Ventimiglia took one look at its size and had a different request.
“Put a sandbag in it,” he recalled saying. The bag looked full. Ventimiglia figured he should feel the weight when he picked it up as Jess Mariano.
Ventimiglia, 49, shared the memory with Us Weekly in a November 2 interview confirming he’ll take part in HBO Max’s Gilmore Girls documentary. He had yet to record his interview and didn’t know what the filmmakers would ask.
Fans still approach him expecting him to remember a particular line. When he asks what they remember from their own lives that long ago, some tell him they hadn’t been born yet.
Ventimiglia Remembers the Nerves Behind Jess and Rory’s First Kiss
Ventimiglia joined the series in 2001, when Jess arrived in Stars Hollow to live with his uncle Luke. As Jess and Bledel’s Rory grew closer, viewers saw a first kiss that took quite a bit of work to film. “I was nervous. We did each angle a million times,” Ventimiglia told Teen People in 2003.
He and Bledel also dated offscreen. In July 2006, his representative confirmed their breakup to PEOPLE after three and a half years together. A decade later, the two appeared as Jess and Rory again in Netflix’s four-part revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
Lauren Graham Announced the Documentary With Photos From the Show
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When Lauren Graham announced the documentary in August, she shared a carousel of old Gilmore Girls photos. One showed her sitting on a swing with Bledel, who played her daughter for seven seasons. “Oh hey, hi… we’re making a documentary,” Graham wrote.
Director Bonni Cohen’s film will pair interviews with material from the making of the series, including outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage and original script pages. Graham, creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and executive producer Daniel Palladino are among the participants, according to TheWrap. HBO Max has yet to announce a release date.
Ventimiglia said he probably won’t rewatch old episodes to prepare. He thinks back to how he spent his days on set. “Hanging out with Jared Padalecki, being with Alexis,” he said. Padalecki played Dean, Jess’s rival for Rory’s affection.
Dennis Quaid Won Over Ventimiglia’s Daughter on Their Christmas Movie Set
Ventimiglia was promoting A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, which arrives on Netflix on November 4. Based on W. Bruce Cameron’s book, the film follows the Goss family through a medical emergency at Christmas, with a basset hound named Winstead determined to bring everyone back together.
Ventimiglia said he had long admired his costar Dennis Quaid. When his wife, Jarah Mariano, brought their daughter to the set, Quaid had a trick that caught the little girl’s attention. Quaid spoke in a voice that made him sound as though he were underwater. Ventimiglia said his daughter was fascinated.