|
Kate Beckinsale Interview
by David Eimer
When Kate Beckinsale made her movie debut opposite Keanu Reeves and Kenneth Branagh in 1993's "Much Ado About Nothing", she was still a student at Oxford University and wasn't even sure if she wanted to be an actress. But her days of studying French and Russian are long gone. Instead, Beckinsale has become one of Britain's most popular exports to Hollywood. Her part as a winsome WWII nurse in 2001's high-profile but critically-slammed "Pearl Harbour" led onto a starring role in the vampire drama "Underworld" and this summer she'll be seen in her biggest film yet, "Van Helsing". Directed by Stephen Sommers, who made the enormously successful "Mummy" movies, it sees her playing Anna Valerious, a gypsy princess who hooks up with the legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing, who's played by the Australian actor Hugh Jackman, to take on not just Dracula but Frankenstein and the Wolfman.
With her long and curly dark hair and a wardrobe of high black boots and tight leather bodices, she certainly looks the part. "I was quite involved in the costumes. They seemed like a good idea at the time but after three months of it, I'm slightly desperate to get the corset off. Especially after lunch," jokes the irreverent and amusing Beckinsale. "Coming from the British film industry, I think I've done my fair share of corset-wearing." The irony is that the 30 year-old is no fan of the horror genre. "I don't like vampire movies, I never have really," she says during a break from filming on the Prague set of "Van Helsing". "When I think of vampire movies, I think of people with very white faces and red lipstick wafting around in a nightie. But this one isn't like that. It has vampires in it, but it's very much an action-adventure."
It was that aspect of the film that attracted her to it because, since "Underworld", she's become something of an action heroine. "It's funny because I used to do anything to get off sport in school; I hated running and jumping about and didn't set foot in a gym until I did "Pearl Harbour" and was made to," laughs Beckinsale. "Actually, it's the dancing in this that floored me - I have to dance with Dracula -, which is odd as I used to dance when I was a kid. But I've discovered that I'm better with a gun." Which is just as well because "Van Helsing" requires her to battle a whole array of monsters with supernatural powers. "It's been fun," states Beckinsale, who was keen from the start on doing as many of her own stunts as possible. "I've done most of the things they've asked me to. I was nervous at first, but it's been quite enjoyable zooming into the air on the wires."
She believes that her role has helped boost her confidence in real life. "One of the good things about training for the fights is that at the start of it you feel quite self-conscious and a bit of an idiot and you don't want to go for it, but that soon goes and it has made me feel less self-conscious about a lot of things. I remember hearing Angelina Jolie say that when she did "Tomb Raider", it was amazing to push yourself to places that you haven't been to before and that's definitely true. It's been incredible for me in all areas of my life and very liberating."
Working with Sommers has made the whole process even easier. "I knew that Stephen wasn't awful and terrifying because his crews always work with him over and over again, so I knew that it would be a nice working environment. And he wrote the script so I knew that he wasn't going to mess around with it," points out Beckinsale. Nor is he the type of director who spends more time on the special effects than with the actors. "What's important are the performances and Stephen concentrates a lot on them."
But Beckinsale reserves her highest praise for her co-star Jackman. "He's got the reputation for being the nicest man in the industry and I thought, 'Gosh, I hope that's true and that I don't unleash his dark side or anything'. But he really is. He's such a good actor and so funny and incredibly professional and we've had a really good time working together. We had to do a scene the other day with me and him up to our necks in freezing cold water and it was really grim, but we had a really good time simply because he's so great."
Jackman's wife and son have been with him in Prague, which has helped Beckinsale off the set. "Hugh's got this fantastic wife and great kid, which is perfect for me because his son and my daughter Lily can have play dates. Actually, his son Oscar announced that he's Lily's husband the other day so that's going very well." Beckinsale split from five year-old Lily's father, the Welsh actor Michael Sheen, in 2003. Now she's engaged to Len Wiseman, the American director of "Underworld".
They spend much of their time in LA and she says she prefers it to living in London. "I think at the moment I do," she confirms. "I find I get a bit depressed then it's dark and cold. I didn't notice it until I left and it was quite shocking going back. And I've got much more of a history in England. No one really knows who or where I came from in America and there's something that's quite nice about that."
Of course once "Van Helsing" comes out, her days of being anonymous in the States will be over. But in the UK Beckinsale will always be associated with her father, the late Richard. He was one of Britain's best-loved comic actors and an almost constant presence on British TV in the Seventies, in classic sitcoms like "Porridge" and "Rising Damp". But he died tragically young in 1979, of a heart attack, and Kate was brought up in the west London suburbs by her actress mother Judy Loe.
Beckinsale's first serious taste of fame came with "Pearl Harbour" and it's clear that she was affected by the derisive reviews that the movie received. "I was just very shocked. It was a film that seemed to put people's backs up, so I had to do a lot of turning up in different countries where people said, 'Hi, we hated it' and I'd be like, 'Oh, it's nice to meet you too'. It got a bit wearing after a while but the film did well at the box office and it was very good for me. I don't feel like its some dark thing that I have to recover from."
After "Van Helsing", she'll next be seen playing screen legend Ava Gardner in Martin Scorsese's biopic of Howard Hughes, "The Aviator". Then there'll be a sequel to "Underworld". But Beckinsale claims she has no grand scheme for the future. "I don't have a game plan. It's more what I like at the time. I think the biggest thing that will affect what I do next is the fact that my child really needs to be in school. I feel like I've come to the end of a period where she's quite portable. I think I need to settle down for a bit." Just as long as she keeps on making movies.
|
Interviews
|
|
This website is created and designed by Atlantis International, 2006
This is an unofficial website with educational purpose. All pictures, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and may not be reproduced for any reason whatsoever. If proper notation of owned material is not given please notify us so we can make adjustments. No copyright infringement is intended.
