‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ actress Kate Beckinsale Calls Popularity as Vampire Selene “Depressing”, Admits Series Was Experimental

‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ actress Kate Beckinsale said her film legacy as Vampire Selene was “depressing”. She also revealed that the series started out as experimental.

According to Metro, Beckinsale admitted during an interview with Total Film that she wasn’t too keen on being famous for her role on the ‘Underworld’ series alone. She said, “It has lasted pretty well. It’s a little bit depressing that that’s probably what’s going to be on my gravestone.”

She added, “I’m far more comfortable with learning 70,000 words of dialogue. That’s much more in my comfort zone. Whereas jumping off things and doing a roly-poly in leather tights, that’s a bit like, “What the f**k am I doing here still?”… It’s always been a hilarious joke to my family that I’ve been allowed to get away with it.”

The 42-year old English beauty was first introduced into the series as a leather-clad vampire death dealer in Len Wiseman’s 2003 film ‘Underworld’. Although the first film earned generally negative reviews from critics, Beckinsale went on to star in two more sequels – specifically 2006’s ‘Underworld: Evolution’ and 2012’s ‘Underworld: Awakening’. She skipped out on 2009’s ‘Underworld: Rise of the Lycans’, which was intended as a prequel to the original film.

Beckinsale admitted that she only got involved in the film because of Wiseman was her husband at that time. She also expressed her surprise that the franchise’s popularity endured to this day.

According to TV3, Beckinsale believed that producers took a gamble when they decided to finance the original 2003 film. She said, "It wasn't based on a comic book, and it wasn't based on a video game, and it wasn't based on anything that had already existed… I don't think that movie would get made now, because everything has to be a remake, or a sequel, or based on some other thing.”

She added, "There were a lot of things about it that weren't a 'go'… It was a first-time director (her estranged husband Len Wiseman), it was an actress who'd never done that kind of movie before, and certainly I had no idea of whether I'd be able to do it or not. There were a lot of things that made it a sort of experiment, really."

Beckinsale’s acting history before ‘Underworld’ consisted of several romance and drama roles. She rose to international fame when she starred in Michael Bay’s ‘Pearl Harbor’ alongside Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck. She also starred in the 2001 romantic comedy ‘Serendipity’ with John Cusack.

The versatile actress later took on more diverse roles in films such as Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Aviator’, Nimrod Antal’s ‘Vacancy’, Len Wiseman’s ‘Total Recall’, and Whit Stillman’s ‘Love & Friendship’.

Beckinsale admitted that although she enjoyed other roles in other projects, she still had a fondness for Selene. According to Collider, she said, “Not every female-led franchise works. I feel proud that I get to be a part of something that has worked. I’m all for women having as many opportunities as they possibly can… Even though there are a lot of really seriously respectable female action characters, I still think it’s a little bit more surprising for people to not keep a woman stuck in one spot. Even though it got away from me a little bit and took over, I like that I got to be one of those.”

‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ is an upcoming action-horror film directed by Anna Foerster. It is scheduled to premiere on October 14, 2016.