THIS IS US The stars get candid
The This Is Us co-stars spill on their close friendship and Season 3
American drama series This Is Us has seen huge success since it first aired in 2016. As the events of season three unfold on our screens, following the lives of Jack and Rebecca Pearson and their three kids, WHO sits down with main actors Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore to chat about the drama, the tears and how the show has changed them.
What can we expect for Season 3?
VENTIMIGLIA
Things get in the way between Jack and Rebecca so we go back to happier times which is great. Jack is also in the throes of Vietnam, which is a very different contrast to their young love. Do you enjoy working on the show?
VENTIMIGLIAMY
favourite place to be in the world is on set. Going from Jack to Trey in Second Act or Denny in The Art of Racing in the Rain, it’s bringing new life to something that is hopefully going to touch people and touch an audience and ultimately change their life.
MOORE
There’s nothing like coming home to this set. I feel lucky that the show has given us all these varied opportunities. What was your first love like?
MOORE
In real life? It was a long time ago, but now getting to explore love in the way that our characters experience it, it’s a fairytale almost. Has pressure been relieved since Jack’s death was revealed?
VENTIMIGLIA
I don’t think it took pressure off, but I don’t particularly feel pressure. MOORE I’m just glad it’s out there because I was so terrified for a while that I was going to slip up or accidentally say it. How has this show changed your life?
VENTIMIGLIA
It feels like a bigger responsibility to represent something good. We can’t take our character masks off in the world because we’ve been in people’s homes and sat with them and we’ve held them in a way, through their own stuff that we don’t even know about.
MOORE
There is a discernible difference about coming into someone’s home. The intimacy that is just automatically there so people do feel like they know you. Do you both watch the show?
VENTIMIGLIA
Mandy and I watch every episode together. Always, since the very beginning. MOORE I think we’ve missed two episodes of the whole series. It always has to happen during lunch, while we’re working.
VENTIMIGLIA
It’s literally, don’t cry too hard because we’ll mess up our makeup. How did you feel watching the episode where Jack dies?
VENTIMIGLIA
It was deep down heartbreaking. It was hard to film because of the deep-seated emotion that this family has. I mean, I’ve never seen a human being cry as much as Mandy Moore. I felt like, hey, here’s some water, you’re going to need it. MOORE Rehydrate yourself. Milo, what was it like working with Jennifer Lopez in the film Second Act?
VENTIMIGLIA
Jennifer is the coolest. She is one of the hardest workers, talented, kind, giving and fun. I was filming that movie around the same time Jack was dying, so it was such a contrast to go from the loss of the Pearsons to Jennifer Lopez in a shower ( laughs). Does J.LO watch This Is Us?
VENTIMIGLIA
She told me she and her sister make the time to sit down and watch it, which I thought was pretty lovely. As busy as
“I’ve never seen a human being cry as much as Mandy Moore” —Milo Ventimiglia
that woman is, she still made time to watch the show, which I was grateful for.
Mandy, you’re quite open and were shaving the other day on Instagram.
MOORE I have to shave [my face] before I put prosthetics on because otherwise the little tiny baby fuzz that we women have on our cheeks, the glue sort of sticks to it and makes the hair like more obvious. So they shaved my face.
VENTIMIGLIA Do you want me to shave my legs in solidarity? (Laughs.)
MOORE I don’t like shaving my legs so I won’t make you do it.
Mandy, are you sick of wearing your prosthetics? Has anyone recognised you off set wearing them?
MOORE I love it because it means I’m working with sort of the other side of the cast. People ask me that. I feel like I should do some undercover video or something and put it on my Instagram, like going to order a coffee and seeing if anybody looks at me oddly.