Milo Ventimiglia's Favorite Thing To Film On This Is Us Was The Scene That Broke Our Hearts

It was hard to watch when Milo Ventimiglia's Jack and Mandy Moore's Rebecca had that no-holes-barred fight during the Season 1 finale of This Is Us. The rawness and the intimacy of the scene that seemed to go on forever didn't just tug at viewer's heartstrings, it ripped and tore at them. Jack and Rebecca had become America's most beloved parents at that point, and it is never fun to walk in on mom and dad fighting. It was emotional and jarring for viewers at home, but Ventimiglia sees it a different way. He loves that scene. He said so during the This Is Us panel at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, TX.

Ventimiglia said, according to TV Guide, that the scene is "one of the best scenes, one of the best moments, one of the highlights of my 22 years of my career as an actor..." He gives credit to the episode's director, Ken Olin, and his scene partner Mandy Moore for the success and authenticity of the moment. "That big argument that Mandy and I had in the very end — that had to be one of the most satisfying things on set," he told the audience at the panel.

For her part, Moore has also pointed to that scene as memorable during Paley Fest in LA in March.

During the panel, the actor also told a story about a woman who told him his character had helped her husband deal with their new adopted child, Variety reports. Ventimiglia says it was all he could do to hold it together in that moment. As for spoilers about Jack's death, he didn't divulge any details but admitted that his favorite fan theory is that Miguel killed him.

The This Is Us panel included Ventimiglia, Olin (who is also an executive producer on the show), and Jennifer Salke, President of NBC Entertainment. Salke shared a funny story about Ventimiglia getting recognized at the airport while they were traveling to Austin. A bachelorette party rushed to get their photo taken with the actor and Salke reminded him that he is now a "dream dad and husband." That's a far cry from how some felt about Ventimiglia's former role as the bad boy with a heart (and library) of gold Jess on Gilmore Girls.

And yes, in case you were wondering, watching This Is Us makes Ventimiglia cry sometimes, too.