When
a science-fiction/horror film that costs $23 million gets released
and earns $21.7 million on its first weekend, studio heads think
one thing: sequel. Expectations for the first “Underworld”
film were very low. First of all, it came in moderately under
the radar. Genre fans were probably the most hyped up about it,
but the common folk’s awareness wasn’t too extreme.
In a time of the 2003 “Matrix” overload of video games,
sequels, dvd releases and endless promotion, did the public want
to see more leather bound anti-heroes showcasing their firing
techniques with an endless amount of gunfire? Well, when the commercial
spots and trailers came out, and the poster of Kate Beckinsale
in front of the enormous moon was released, the public seemingly
started foaming out of their mouths. And when the $21.7 million
figure came in, fans got exactly what they wanted: a high-class
mixture of “The Matrix” and “Blade” that
put a whole new spin on the age-old vampire/werewolf stories.
But the biggest shock of all was the fact that, although it ended
up making $100 million worldwide, it became even bigger when it
was released on video and DVD, meaning that a whole new audience
discovered it at home and that the old grassroots publicity campaign
known as word-of-mouth was very, very good on “Underworld”.
Now in January 2005, exactly 16
months since the first movie was released in theatres, I am on
the set of “Underworld: Evolution”, the follow-up
to the 2003 film, at Vancouver Film Studios. “Underworld:
Evolution” stars almost all of the main
original cast: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Bill Nighy, Shane
Brolly, Sophia Myles and Michael Sheen, along with newcomers Tony
Curran and the much-acclaimed British actor Sir Derek Jacobi.
Director Len Wiseman returns also, along with co-writer and co-creator
Danny McBride by his side. It’s also interesting to note
that Paul Haggis, Academy-award nominated screenwriter for “Million
Dollar Baby”, did a rewrite on the script. Not much is given
about the plot other than it begins only 3-4 hours after the first
movie finished and continues the saga of war between the aristocratic
Death Dealers and the barbaric Lycans (werewolves). This film
also gives us a glimpse into the history of the feud between the
two tribes as Selene (Beckinsale), the beautiful vampire heroine,
and Michael (Speedman), the Lycan hybrid, try to unlock the secrets
of their bloodlines.
The scope of the film is 2-3x
bigger than the first, we were told by producer Gary Lucchesi.
But as much as things change, they always stay the same and with
“Underworld: Evolution”, CGI will still be hanging
out with its old 1970’s friends, Models and Matte paintings.
We talked to visionary wunderkind Patrick Tatopoulos, the production
designer on films such as “Independence Day”, “Godzilla”
and “I, Robot”, about what he was planning for the
look of the film and its creatures. He told us that the new villain
Marcus (Tony Curran) is going to have wings that fold into his
back. We looked at sketch designs of Marcus and they look pretty
damn scary. A lot of the creatures in the film will be performed
using animatronics. We got to take a look at an animatronic black
werewolf’s head that was to be used in the film and it was
fascinating. In order to make it work, three special effects men
handle the controls of the creature from afar, while one man stands
inside of it. He also told us that in the flashback scenes, the
Lycans (or werewolves) will be a great deal skinnier than they
are in present time. In regards to set design, the historical
sequences will be very colonial, set in a fully constructed medieval
village. It takes place in Romania, the home and heartland of
the creatures. The designs look, in typical Tatopoulos fashion,
very dark and gothic. But Tatopoulos says he is specifically avoiding
using the word “gothic”, instead, he thinks the designs
are more “Roman” than anything else. The first film’s
look was extremely gray and blue-looking and Tatopoulos says he
is purposely trying to go for a more-brightened up look.
Next, on the set of a ship complete
with ancient knives, candlesticks and other weaponry we had our
press conference. At this press conference was actor Scott Speedman
(SS), director Len Wiseman (LW) and actress Kate Beckinsale (KB).
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