Kate Beckinsale Interview - Q & A by David Eimer Q:      You spend a lot of time wearing tight leather bodices and high black boots in this? A:      Yes. Actually, I was quite involved in the costumes. Stephen Sommers had done a preview of the big action sequences on the computer and I really liked what the sci fi fans came up with and that's where the big boots come from. It 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. I had to wear a corset in the last film I did and, coming from the British film industry, I think I've done my share of corset-wearing for a while. I thought as we're doing an action movie, I'd be able to get away with something that stretched. Q:      Is it difficult doing the action scenes in the costumes, because you do have to spend a lot of time flying around on wires for this? A:       It's awful. There's a big old bulky harness and then you put the corset over the top and you're four times the size you normally are and all the clothes are very tight. Supposedly, no one's going to notice but it does make you feel a bit self-conscious. Q:     You've just done a vampire movie, "Underworld", and now you're battling Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman all in one film? A:       I know. Actually, I don't like vampire movies. I never have really. All the press I did for the last film, I was able to say, 'I don't like vampire movies and isn't it funny that I'm doing one'. Now I can't really get away with that. But when I think of vampire movies I think of people with very white faces and red lipstick, wafting around in a nightie, and this one isn't like that. It's very much an action-adventure. It has vampires in it but it doesn't feel like a vampire movie. That's what I've come up with as my excuse and I think it's true. I wouldn't be the first in line for a really heavy, gothic-style vampire film. Q:      What's your character Anna like? A:      She's a gypsy princess whose whole family have been involved in a vendetta against Dracula for generations. He's killed all of them except her and if she gets killed, then none of her family gets to go to heaven and will spend eternity wandering around the afterlife. So the pressure is really on her to get rid of Dracula and nobody knows how to do that. Then she meets up with Van Helsing. She doesn't think much of him at the beginning, because he's in charge of getting rid of evil in the world and wants to kill Dracula but she thinks that her family have been fighting Dracula for years so why should someone who's just showed up know how to do it. Q:       Do you believe in the supernatural? A:       In the sense of Dracula and Frankenstein? I don't know. I don't really lie awake at night worrying about monsters. I do a lot of monster-killing, because I have a four year-old daughter. So having a sword and shooting things on this has come in quite handy. 'Oh the monsters won't come here because mummy is so tough' and all that. But I do believe in it a bit because there are always those funny stories people tell about various people who've died but who pop back now and again for a visit. But I'm not into horoscopes or anything like that. Q:       Why are vampire movies so popular? A:       I think a lot of it is the symbolism of blood and veins and pulses and bare necks being licked. It's pretty heady stuff. I get my neck licked in this by various types, there's a girl-on-girl neck lick and Dracula has a go. But I only do neck-licking if it's absolutely essential to the story. Q:      How's it been working with Hugh Jackman? A:       He's got a 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' and he really is. He's such a good actor and so nice and funny and incredibly professional and we've had a really good time just working. But he's also got this fantastic wife and great kid, which is perfect for me and so we've had play dates. Actually, his son Oscar announced that he's Lily's husband the other day so that's going very well. He's just been fantastic. We had to do a scene the other day with me and him up to our necks in freezing cold water and with the rain machine going and it really was grim, we were in heavy clothes and had to swim around a lot, but we had a really good time simply because he's so great. Q:      Has your daughter Lily enjoyed being in Prague? A:      She's had a really good time. She says things like, 'Oh I like Prague better than Budapest', which is very impressive. Q:      Did you ask Rachel Weisz, who worked on the "Mummy" movies, about Stephen Sommers? A:      We have the same agent but I didn't ask her because I wasn't around. But I knew that Stephen wasn't awful and terrifying. His crews always work with him over and over again, so I knew 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. Q:      With all the special effects and action scenes, does Stephen have time for the actors? A:      Yes. I've been very lucky in that I've done two action movies and that whole thing, 'Is there any room for acting?' seems like a really odd question because it's absolutely been the priority with the directors that I've worked with. What's important are the performances and Stephen concentrates a lot on them. Q:      Is it difficult acting in front of a blue screen? A       You just have to take charge of your own imagination. You just have to work slightly harder to suspend your own disbelief. One of the good things about all the training, especially for the fights, is that at the start of it you feel a little self-conscious and a bit of an idiot and you don't want to go for it, but that soon goes and that's made me feel less self-conscious about a lot of things. I remember when Angelina Jolie did "Tomb Raider" and hearing her say how amazing it was 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. It's been liberating. Q:     Do you like being an action star? A:      Yeah, I really do. It's funny for me, because I used to do anything to get off PE in school and hated running and jumping about and I didn't set foot in a gym until I did "Pearl Harbour" and was made to. But I'd just finished "Underworld" and I had three months of training for that. 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. Q:     Have you done many of your own stunts? A:     I've done most of the things they've asked me to, but if I can't do it they get the stuntwoman in. Q:     What about being up on the wires so much? A:      I was nervous at first but it's been quite enjoyable zooming into the air with Hugh grabbing my ankles. It's been fun. Q:     How do you see your future? A:      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 does need 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. Q:     You've been based in LA for a while now, do you prefer it to London? A:      I think at the moment I do. I really do find I get a bit depressed when it's dark and cold. I didn't notice I did 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 I am or where I came from in America and there's something that's quite nice about that. I quite like just showing up as who I am at that moment. Q:     Do you get more privacy in the States? A:      I think so. There's a particular sandpit that I take Lily to in London that I always get photographed at, so I have to make sure that I've got my teeth in. Film actors are less of a rare breed in LA.		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