When I first sat down with “Underworld: Awakening” star Kate Beckinsale at the film’s press junket last week, I had one question first and foremost on my mind: what’s the secret to looking cool in a slo-mo shot?
“Oh, don’t make any massive facial expressions, I guess…don’t go ‘brrr’!” she laughed. “And make sure you have hot pockets in your pockets.”
“Awakening” is Beckinsale’s first time back in the action-horror franchise since “Underworld: Evolution” hit theaters back in 2006, with the film – which picks up 12 years after that second installment – seeing her character, vampire assassin Selene, awaking from over a decade of cryogenic sleep and emerging into a radically-altered world. She also makes a few discoveries about her personal life that aren’t what you’d call “warm and fuzzy” – which gave the actress a chance to convey her character’s heightened inner turmoil.
“Selene in the first movie, in the very first ‘Underworld’, is so kind of frozen and held in,” she noted. “It’s very nice to have had the opportunity to have her find out that she’s been betrayed by everybody and be kind of grieving over that…So by the time we get to this movie, she’s kind of been through the mill a little bit more, and I think probably is a little bit more emotionally present.”
Other topics covered during our chat include what it was like to shoot the balls-to-the-wall fight sequence with that massive “uber-lycan”, how it felt to stick her hand inside co-star Theo James’…err, body cavity, and whether she can see herself suiting up for another installment in the long-running franchise somewhere down the line. You can watch the full interview above!