"Pathology" in US theaters April 18

Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes) headlined a panel hosted by Lakeshore Entertainment about his upcoming release Pathology at Wizard World Los Angeles last Saturday. The actor was joined by writer/producer Mark Neveldine, director Brian Taylor (Crank, Game) and co-stars Alyssa Milano (Charmed) and Michael Weston (Scrubs, The Dukes of Hazzard).

Neveldine and Taylor kept the mood light but the humor dark by kicking off the panel with an exclusive look at the Red Band trailer. Pathology is about the journey Dr. Grey (Ventimiglia) takes when he starts his career as a forensic pathologist. His fellow pathologists, lead by Weston as the manic Dr. Gallow, have a terrifying tendency to increase their workload by killing the dregs of society and challenging each other to discover how. Pulled into a world of moral ambiguity and sexual excess, Dr. Grey stands to lose everything, including his fiancé (played by Milano).

A clip from the movie showed Ventimiglia and Weston going for a night on the town. After drinking and driving, Weston leads Ventimiglia to what turns out to be a crack house. Ventimiglia passes out, and the next morning finds the crack house's surly doorman on the operating table.

[The budget] was seven or eight million, said Neveldine, …and was shot over about fourteen days.

Alyssa Milano, Milo Ventimiglia

We've tried to push the envelope as far as what you can do with the camera, said Taylor, talking about the cameras he prefers to use. Like you've heard before, film is dead.

The producers also revealed that Pathology was written before Crank, but circumstances conspired for Crank to be produced first.

Ventimiglia said he's been seeking out more roles that challenge him as an actor, and that often means going into very dark places to find those characters. I researched the role by attending almost two hundred autopsies, said Ventimiglia, "I saw everyone from an eight-month-old baby to an 80-year-old man.

It's not torture porn, said Taylor, responding to a question about what genre the film could be classified in. [Pathology] shares some things in common, but we wanted to make a movie more about character.

Brian Taylor, Mark Neveldine

Ventimiglia also talked about his role another upcoming release with Neveldine and Taylor, entitled Game, in which he plays a slick television producer named Rick Rape. If I can paint a picture of [Rick Rape], he's basically in a black leather suit with silver Moonraker teeth. He's disturbing.

Game will also co-star Dexter's Michael C. Hall.

Ventimiglia also put to rest rumors about his involvement in a possible Nightwing project. I went to an open casting call to be Robin when I was younger. it didn't amount to anything, he said.

Pathology premiers in the US on April 18.

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