Anyone who’s ever felt overworked can be tempted by the premise of “Rest” – a new limited-edition comic series published by Devil’s Due and produced by Divide Pictures, “Heroes” star Milo Venitmiglia’s company (the main character also shares Milo’s likeness).
“Everyone wants more time,” Ventimiglia said. “As an actor, I work 12-15 hours a day, and at the end of the day when I’m not acting, I read 90-100 emails about business for the production company, so yes, I can identify with a guy who takes a drug so he doesn’t need to sleep. I don’t sleep much as it is!”
John Barrett, a New York-based office professional type, is approached by an old college buddy to take part in a pharmaceutical experiment – take a pill which allows you to function without sleep. What he does with his extra time – and why the government is sponsoring the experiment – becomes the focus of the four-to-five issue run, which starts in October. (It’ll later be collected as a trade paperback next year).
“It’s really about the struggle of this one guy against a government conspiracy,” Ventimiglia said. “I equate it to two trains running, and when they intersect, there will be a huge disaster.”
If the Mark Powers-written series does well, it could be adapted into a film or TV series – after all, it started off as a movie script by Mike O’Sullivan, which Ventimiglia’s company couldn’t do anything with during the writer’s strike -- but just because Ventimiglia looks like the main character doesn’t mean he’ll play him. Or that all the comics from Divide Pictures will be vanity projects.
“With ‘Rest,’ it was a natural fit, but I don’t want everything to be Milo-centric,” the actor said. “It doesn’t matter if the character or the actor playing him has dark hair or light hair or blue eyes or brown eyes. It’s unnecessary to have someone look like me. I just want us to tell great stories.”
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Does the premise of 'Rest' intrigue you? Did you pick up the 99-cent preview issue out this month? What did you think?
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