EXCLUSIVE: Milo Ventimiglia Tackles Dating in the Digital Age in New Drama 'Relationship Status'
Dating in the digital age is hard, but Milo Ventimiglia is here to help. Or, at least, relate.
The Gilmore Girls actor executive produces and stars in the new streaming series Relationship Status, a modern love story about dating in the age of Snapchat, and ET has your exclusive first look at the show, set to premiere later this month.
It was the script by writer Celine Geiger that drew Ventimiglia to the project, which will play out like Love Actually on steroids, featuring 30 characters interacting across 11 different storylines in two cities -- Los Angeles and New York City.
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“These characters are all connected and still very much present in one another’s lives through technology,” Ventimiglia told ET ahead of the series’ Tribeca Film Festival premiere on Thursday. “Through dating apps, through Facebook, through Snapchat, through the things that I know we all toy around with when we’ve got a couple minutes to kill, you know, in the palm of our hand.”
“Basically it’s the idea that we’re all so connected, but we’re all still so separated by these things that are actually ‘connecting’ us,” he explained. “You know, the complications that come from dating in the digital age, relating to one another.”
“It’s kind of getting back to that idea of you have these great, accessible apps, and these great, accessible people through these dating apps,” Ventimiglia continued. “But really what it comes down to is, like, you gotta be a human being. You gotta still connect on a human level, and the fun and the sadness that goes along with all that.”
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Ventimiglia plays Jack, a gay bartender navigating the New York City dating scene with his new and seemingly naive roommate.
“He’s a wild one,” Ventimiglia said of his character. “I think people know me more for the dark, and the moody, and the broody, but Jack is, he’s light and he’s fun. He’s a bit of an old soul and a young spirit, combined in one.”
“When my [producing] partner, Russ [Cundiff], and I read the script. I was like, ‘This is great.’ And Russ said, ‘Milo, who do you want to play?’” Ventimiglia recalled. “I was like, I don’t know. There’s so many great characters, you know? But that’s also, for me as an actor, such an encouraging thing, because if I see the value in all these characters -- not just the men, but the women, hopefully that’s gonna attract a great cast, and that’s what we were able to do.”
The series co-stars actors from mainstream media, like Pretty Little Liars’ Brant Daugherty, The Walking Dead alum Emma Bell and X-Men star Shawn Ashmore, as well as digital influencers including Karrueche Tran and YouTuber Sam Tsui.
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“That was also something that was important to us, given what the subject matter was,” Ventimiglia said of the casting process. “How can we not include people that live and breathe in this space, in such an influencer way? It made sense to have a mix and a balance of cast.”
The first episode of Relationship Status will premiere on StyleHaul’s YouTube channel on Thursday, April 28, with additional episodes rolling out on Verizon’s go90 app beginning the next day.
Ventimiglia is also returning to Gilmore Girls for its Netflix reboot, set to premiere later this year. Check out the video below for more on that project.