Milo Ventimiglia is used to working with big stars, but he exclusively tells Us Weekly that filming Land of Bad with Luke and Liam Hemsworth was on a different level.
“When you’re filming in Australia with the Hemsworths, you’re basically filming with Australian royalty,” Ventimiglia exclusively told Us.
The actor, 46, plays a member of a military team sent to retrieve a missing CIA asset in Land of Bad, in theaters now. Luke, 43, plays Ventimiglia’s partner on the mission, and they’re joined by an inexperienced soldier, played by Liam, 34. Ricky Whittle rounds out the team as a battle-hardened veteran. When the mission goes south, a drone operator (Russell Crowe) becomes their only hope.
Though the Aussies treat the Hemsworths like royalty, the brothers were nothing but welcoming to the cast and crew.
“The easiest thing is just working with the guys,” Ventimiglia told Us of his cast. “You got a good group of gents that are there, and we’re laughing a lot. We’re enjoying ourselves. There’s a lot of hard work. There’s zero tension on set other than what’s on the screen that we’re playing, filming in a beautiful location with a wonderful crew. Everything was great. It was one of those jobs [where] … it’s almost too short for how good of a time it was and how great the group moving forward was. You wish it was a little bit longer.”
Leaving the country for weeks or months at a time isn’t easy, but Ventimiglia said knowing he’ll be in good company makes him more inclined to sign on for a project like Land of Bad.
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“You know what you’re stepping into. … Really, what it comes down to when you’re on set and you’re there [is] to enjoy yourself and look out for one another,” he said. “And you present that, it gets presented back on you. And there was no shortage of that. A lot of laughs, a lot of good time with Luke and Liam and Ricky.”
The Gilmore Girls alum continued, “Ricky and I, we go back about 10 years of just knowing one another, and Liam, same thing. I’ve known Liam for a little while, just in passing. We used to train at the same gym.”
This isn’t the first time fans have seen the newlywed (Us Weekly broke the news he married Jarah Mariano in October 2023) play a military man. His This Is Us character, Jack Pearson, was a Vietnam War veteran, and Ventimiglia said portraying military heroes is important to him.
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“My dad’s a Vietnam vet. He did two tours in Vietnam,” Ventimiglia told Us. “I’ve got a lot of friends that are in uniform, a lot of friends that are retired military, do a lot of work with Gold Star families that lost loved ones in combat, advocating for them, trying to make sure that their loved ones didn’t die in vain. … Hopefully, a project like this can always reflect back on the good work that those service members in uniform are doing for us.”
While military families are a cause close to Ventimiglia’s heart, he also can’t deny the sheer fun of being in a movie filled with stunts and explosions. “An action role, I think, is always wonderful, because I like to think I’m a pretty fit guy,” Ventimiglia told Us.
Like This Is Us‘ Jack, Ventimiglia’s Land of Bad character is a family man that viewers can’t help but root for throughout the R-rated flick. “You want to see him get home safe, you want to see him get through the mission,” Ventimiglia shared. “I think there’s a lot of inspiring moments for a lot of these men that I play in the action space, but it’s fun to be in. It’s fun to play in that world, especially when you’re with two Hemsworths and a Ricky Whittle. It’s a lot of fun.”
Land of Bad, directed by William Eubanks, is in theaters now and will be on demand March 19.
