Big surprise! Underworld: Evolution is a good film. This is a rare case of a sequel being much better than the original. This second film takes off nearly exactly at the end of the first. Now that the death dealing vampiric Selene [Kate Beckinsale] and the hybrid werewolf/vampire Michael [Scott Speedman] have defeated the evil leader of the vampires now they must stop the founder of the vampires bloodline from releasing his twin brother, the first werewolf, from his prison.
I got a chance to talk with Kate Beckinsale in New York about working with her geek husband Len Wiseman, who directed both Underworld films.
Check out the official site for Underworld: Evolution
Daniel Robert Epstein: Since youve played this character before and youre married to the co-screenwriter/director, did you contribute more to the character than just acting?
Kate Beckinsale: Yeah. I've never been involved with a movie from the moment it's a germ of an idea, right through the whole editing process and the special effects so it was a great thing for me. I wasn't like a Yoko Ono, with a controlling scary thing going on but i was definitely consulted and involved. I couldn't not be really because it was all taking place in my living room most of the time. If we were going to take a second strike at it I really wanted to open up Selene's character a little bit. I was glad that was what Len [Wiseman] had in mind as well.
DRE: When I spoke to Len about the DVD of the first Underworld, he said there were definitely flaws that he was aware of. Do you feel like youve improved with this film?
KB: Yeah because the first movie was a difficult job acting wise because what you're trying to achieve with that character is her being this bad ass and a death dealer. But shes actually quite low on the food chain, so above her is Kraven, above that is Viktor so she's always a little bit subordinated. Therefore it was quite difficult to make her as strong as a character and at the same time not overbalance where her role in the pecking order was. This time it was a little bit easier because Selene and Michael have struck out on their own.
DRE: How was it having your daughter play you as a young girl?
KB: We were quite worried because I didn't think she would take either of us that seriously on the set. Len and i both envisioned it as a situation where it'd be like trying to get her into a snowsuit where she says No I wont! and everybody would be terribly embarrassed. But suddenly she became highly professional to the point of where Len called her over and said Lily, could you look over your shoulder? and she said Could you call me Selene? It was really cute. But I certainly never insisted on being called Selene so she didn't get that from me.
DRE: Do you think she will want to be an actor?
KB: No but the lure of the doughnuts on the craft service table was quite heavy. But thanks to the sheer boredom of having to do takes over and over again, she wants to be a writer [laughs].
DRE: How do you like wearing the costume now?
KB: Surprisingly enough its actually an extremely comfortable costume. I think you do panic a bit when you've got to wear latex for several months. Theres not a scene where she sweats or anything like that.
DRE: How tricky was it do a love scene with your husband directing?
KB: It wasn't too bad. We were able to block out the moves together because Len is allowed to touch me at home [laughs]. We kept putting off the scene because Scott [Speedman] has become a family friend and it's not easy to do something like that with somebody that you have Fourth of July barbecues with. Finally when we came down to do it Len and I were alright and Scott was just tortured. I think it was much worse for him. He's the one who has a moveable part.
DRE: How much is a genre picture like this elevated by great actors like Bill Nighy and Derek Jacobi?
KB: That was definitely what we wanted. With this being vampires, you've really got an opportunity to cast older actors and still be believable because their characters been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. Therefore you do need people who have a certain weight and gravitas to them. I think it's nice that not everybody has got their own MTV special. Just me [laughs].
DRE: Did you many of the stunts yourself?
KB: Yeah I did. There was one scene where originally Len wanted me to jump off a cliff and I think just from the sheer panic of killing his wife he called it off. But much of it was like the first one where I was allowed to do it. Len really likes us to do as much as we can because it's more interesting for the audience to see us risking life and limb. We had this brilliant stunt team so it didn't feel unsafe. Everyone gets very geared up when you have to do a big jump or a big wire stunt but it seems like you only hurt yourself when youre not doing a big stunt. The first punch I threw, I hit the side of the camera and it really hurt. Whenever I'm jumping off 50 feet, it always goes better for me [laughs].
DRE: Will there be a third Underworld?
KB: I think they always conceived that the third one would be some sort of prequel, set in medieval times so I don't think I'd be invited to that anyway. I think it is very dependent on whether people actually go to the second one. I think Len would love the opportunity to not do another creature movie. He happens to have started with Underworld but he doesnt have fangs and a cloak at home.
DRE: Would they do a third film without you?
KB: I think it entirely depends on when it would be. If Len does three movies first, I'm not sure my ass will be in any state to get into that suit again. I'll be 45 or something. I don't think anyone wants to go and see that. But we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
DRE: Since Underworld have you met any of your Goth fans?
KB: Yeah, my eyes were really opened with the various comic book conventions I was a guest at. It is like being a Beatle for about five minutes. People sort of dress up as you. Also going to the conventions with Hugh Jackman was like walking around with Elvis. They would have torn his pants off if they could and half of them were dressed as Wolverine. I do understand it because I was one of those girls who used to go to The Rocky Horror Picture Show every Saturday night, dress up and throw things. I feel like it is in that vein.
DRE: While Van Helsing made $300 million worldwide it still performed way under expectations and it received a critical drubbing, how does one recover from something like that?
KB: You go home and cry but then you get over it. In the grand scheme of things flopping and doing terribly badly, people will come up to me and say My god, how do you feel about Pearl Harbor or Van Helsing being such a flop? Thank god they've made 17 zillion dollars worldwide. I wish all my flops would make that much money. It is tough for an actor because I watch what Len does and if the movie doesn't go well, we can feel incredibly gypped, because it's out of our hands. Whereas he goes and becomes suicidal because everybody blames him. But it's a weird thing, because the movies don't always come out exactly as you'd imagined, so you win some and you lose some.
DRE: How was working with Adam Sandler and Christopher Walken on Click?
KB: It was really fun. Adam Sandler plays an architect with a couple of kids and I play his wife. He is a workaholic so he's constantly blowing off camping weekends and family dinners to get ahead at work. Then he goes into the back door of Bed, Bath, and Beyond and finds a creepy character played by Christopher Walken who gives him this universal remote that can speed through anything in his life that he finds tedious, a lot of which is me. Then the remote starts to go haywire and fast forwards through things he doesnt want it to. He will get into bed with his wife and suddenly they've gotten to the end of it. Everything starts to get out of control. He misses decades and all of that. So it's actually very funny, very moving and sweet as well.
DRE: How was it working with Adam Sandler?
KB: Fantastic. He's just the best. I think it probably helps that I grew up with four brothers so it was a vibe that I'm used to. He didn't give me as many wedgies as I'd had at home. He didn't give me any fortunately. But he always looked like he was about to.
DRE: So you havent gotten any wedgies lately then.
KB: My daughter gives me wet willies. They're my least favorite [laughs].
DRE: Are you taking some time off or are you starting another movie?
KB: After we finished Underworld I had a couple of months and then I did Click so I took some time off. In a few weeks I'm going to go to Nova Scotia to do a short independent movie with Sam Rockwell called Snow Angels. Then I might go to London and do a comedic play.
DRE: What is Snow Angels about?
KB: It is based on a book and the director is David Gordon Green who did Undertow. Its a really dark tale with quite a few stories in it. My story is about a woman who has a child and a crumbled relationship.
DRE: Have you thought about finding a role you can change your appearance for like Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman have?
KB: Oh yeah. I put on 20 pounds for The Aviator but everyone just thought I'd had a boob job. I'm not going to get any credit for that. My Robert De Niro moment backfired horribly. But those kinds of roles are not what Im offered lately.
DRE: I asked Rebecca Romjin if she would have any desire to write the character Mystique in a comic book, would you have any insight into Selene for a comic book?
KB: Len reads comic books and stuff. The comics I grew up with in England are not what you're talking about at all. So these are quite new for me. I'm not really in that world and I do feel there's one family member who's obsessed with that type of thing so thats probably enough. I like reading books. We'll sit at home in bed at night and I'll have a book and he'll have a comic book. That's our roles in our house.
DRE: What types of novels?
KB: All different. I studied Russian and French literature so it feels like cheating for me to read a book that's actually in English. I loved A Million Little Pieces and Raymond Carver short stories.
DRE: Are you comfortable with Lens collection of action figures and comics yet?
KB: Those things that are not to be called toys? Yeah, he's actually very good about because he keeps them in his office. Its not like they're just gazing down from the living room walls. We did watch 40 Year Old Virgin and were screaming with laughter. It is just like that in our house. What we say in our house is that the geeks shall inherit the earth [laughs].
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
I got a chance to talk with Kate Beckinsale in New York about working with her geek husband Len Wiseman, who directed both Underworld films.
Check out the official site for Underworld: Evolution
Daniel Robert Epstein: Since youve played this character before and youre married to the co-screenwriter/director, did you contribute more to the character than just acting?
Kate Beckinsale: Yeah. I've never been involved with a movie from the moment it's a germ of an idea, right through the whole editing process and the special effects so it was a great thing for me. I wasn't like a Yoko Ono, with a controlling scary thing going on but i was definitely consulted and involved. I couldn't not be really because it was all taking place in my living room most of the time. If we were going to take a second strike at it I really wanted to open up Selene's character a little bit. I was glad that was what Len [Wiseman] had in mind as well.
DRE: When I spoke to Len about the DVD of the first Underworld, he said there were definitely flaws that he was aware of. Do you feel like youve improved with this film?
KB: Yeah because the first movie was a difficult job acting wise because what you're trying to achieve with that character is her being this bad ass and a death dealer. But shes actually quite low on the food chain, so above her is Kraven, above that is Viktor so she's always a little bit subordinated. Therefore it was quite difficult to make her as strong as a character and at the same time not overbalance where her role in the pecking order was. This time it was a little bit easier because Selene and Michael have struck out on their own.
DRE: How was it having your daughter play you as a young girl?
KB: We were quite worried because I didn't think she would take either of us that seriously on the set. Len and i both envisioned it as a situation where it'd be like trying to get her into a snowsuit where she says No I wont! and everybody would be terribly embarrassed. But suddenly she became highly professional to the point of where Len called her over and said Lily, could you look over your shoulder? and she said Could you call me Selene? It was really cute. But I certainly never insisted on being called Selene so she didn't get that from me.
DRE: Do you think she will want to be an actor?
KB: No but the lure of the doughnuts on the craft service table was quite heavy. But thanks to the sheer boredom of having to do takes over and over again, she wants to be a writer [laughs].
DRE: How do you like wearing the costume now?
KB: Surprisingly enough its actually an extremely comfortable costume. I think you do panic a bit when you've got to wear latex for several months. Theres not a scene where she sweats or anything like that.
DRE: How tricky was it do a love scene with your husband directing?
KB: It wasn't too bad. We were able to block out the moves together because Len is allowed to touch me at home [laughs]. We kept putting off the scene because Scott [Speedman] has become a family friend and it's not easy to do something like that with somebody that you have Fourth of July barbecues with. Finally when we came down to do it Len and I were alright and Scott was just tortured. I think it was much worse for him. He's the one who has a moveable part.
DRE: How much is a genre picture like this elevated by great actors like Bill Nighy and Derek Jacobi?
KB: That was definitely what we wanted. With this being vampires, you've really got an opportunity to cast older actors and still be believable because their characters been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. Therefore you do need people who have a certain weight and gravitas to them. I think it's nice that not everybody has got their own MTV special. Just me [laughs].
DRE: Did you many of the stunts yourself?
KB: Yeah I did. There was one scene where originally Len wanted me to jump off a cliff and I think just from the sheer panic of killing his wife he called it off. But much of it was like the first one where I was allowed to do it. Len really likes us to do as much as we can because it's more interesting for the audience to see us risking life and limb. We had this brilliant stunt team so it didn't feel unsafe. Everyone gets very geared up when you have to do a big jump or a big wire stunt but it seems like you only hurt yourself when youre not doing a big stunt. The first punch I threw, I hit the side of the camera and it really hurt. Whenever I'm jumping off 50 feet, it always goes better for me [laughs].
DRE: Will there be a third Underworld?
KB: I think they always conceived that the third one would be some sort of prequel, set in medieval times so I don't think I'd be invited to that anyway. I think it is very dependent on whether people actually go to the second one. I think Len would love the opportunity to not do another creature movie. He happens to have started with Underworld but he doesnt have fangs and a cloak at home.
DRE: Would they do a third film without you?
KB: I think it entirely depends on when it would be. If Len does three movies first, I'm not sure my ass will be in any state to get into that suit again. I'll be 45 or something. I don't think anyone wants to go and see that. But we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
DRE: Since Underworld have you met any of your Goth fans?
KB: Yeah, my eyes were really opened with the various comic book conventions I was a guest at. It is like being a Beatle for about five minutes. People sort of dress up as you. Also going to the conventions with Hugh Jackman was like walking around with Elvis. They would have torn his pants off if they could and half of them were dressed as Wolverine. I do understand it because I was one of those girls who used to go to The Rocky Horror Picture Show every Saturday night, dress up and throw things. I feel like it is in that vein.
DRE: While Van Helsing made $300 million worldwide it still performed way under expectations and it received a critical drubbing, how does one recover from something like that?
KB: You go home and cry but then you get over it. In the grand scheme of things flopping and doing terribly badly, people will come up to me and say My god, how do you feel about Pearl Harbor or Van Helsing being such a flop? Thank god they've made 17 zillion dollars worldwide. I wish all my flops would make that much money. It is tough for an actor because I watch what Len does and if the movie doesn't go well, we can feel incredibly gypped, because it's out of our hands. Whereas he goes and becomes suicidal because everybody blames him. But it's a weird thing, because the movies don't always come out exactly as you'd imagined, so you win some and you lose some.
DRE: How was working with Adam Sandler and Christopher Walken on Click?
KB: It was really fun. Adam Sandler plays an architect with a couple of kids and I play his wife. He is a workaholic so he's constantly blowing off camping weekends and family dinners to get ahead at work. Then he goes into the back door of Bed, Bath, and Beyond and finds a creepy character played by Christopher Walken who gives him this universal remote that can speed through anything in his life that he finds tedious, a lot of which is me. Then the remote starts to go haywire and fast forwards through things he doesnt want it to. He will get into bed with his wife and suddenly they've gotten to the end of it. Everything starts to get out of control. He misses decades and all of that. So it's actually very funny, very moving and sweet as well.
DRE: How was it working with Adam Sandler?
KB: Fantastic. He's just the best. I think it probably helps that I grew up with four brothers so it was a vibe that I'm used to. He didn't give me as many wedgies as I'd had at home. He didn't give me any fortunately. But he always looked like he was about to.
DRE: So you havent gotten any wedgies lately then.
KB: My daughter gives me wet willies. They're my least favorite [laughs].
DRE: Are you taking some time off or are you starting another movie?
KB: After we finished Underworld I had a couple of months and then I did Click so I took some time off. In a few weeks I'm going to go to Nova Scotia to do a short independent movie with Sam Rockwell called Snow Angels. Then I might go to London and do a comedic play.
DRE: What is Snow Angels about?
KB: It is based on a book and the director is David Gordon Green who did Undertow. Its a really dark tale with quite a few stories in it. My story is about a woman who has a child and a crumbled relationship.
DRE: Have you thought about finding a role you can change your appearance for like Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman have?
KB: Oh yeah. I put on 20 pounds for The Aviator but everyone just thought I'd had a boob job. I'm not going to get any credit for that. My Robert De Niro moment backfired horribly. But those kinds of roles are not what Im offered lately.
DRE: I asked Rebecca Romjin if she would have any desire to write the character Mystique in a comic book, would you have any insight into Selene for a comic book?
KB: Len reads comic books and stuff. The comics I grew up with in England are not what you're talking about at all. So these are quite new for me. I'm not really in that world and I do feel there's one family member who's obsessed with that type of thing so thats probably enough. I like reading books. We'll sit at home in bed at night and I'll have a book and he'll have a comic book. That's our roles in our house.
DRE: What types of novels?
KB: All different. I studied Russian and French literature so it feels like cheating for me to read a book that's actually in English. I loved A Million Little Pieces and Raymond Carver short stories.
DRE: Are you comfortable with Lens collection of action figures and comics yet?
KB: Those things that are not to be called toys? Yeah, he's actually very good about because he keeps them in his office. Its not like they're just gazing down from the living room walls. We did watch 40 Year Old Virgin and were screaming with laughter. It is just like that in our house. What we say in our house is that the geeks shall inherit the earth [laughs].
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 25 of 25 COMMENTS
It was a bit frustrating for me because the film still didn't reveal exactly how lycans/vampires were created. We got a good bit of backstory, but no concrete answer. Also, out of the original trio, we've got things from Marcus and Victor's point of view (but not Amelia's-she didn't say a work through the two films).