By Christina Radish

Rhona Mitra at the BAFTA/LA Cunard Britannia Awards held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, Calif. on November 2, 2006.

Rhona Mitra, the British star of the prequel, spoke with MediaBlvd Magazine about playing a vampire.

MediaBlvd Magazine> How did it feel to be a part of this film?

Rhona Mitra> It’s the oddest thing because I was probably automatically thinking what a lot of the fans were thinking. For one, people weren’t expecting it be a prequel. They were thinking that it was just going to be a continuation. And then, they were probably thinking, “Why is she going to be taking on the role of Kate Beckinsale? That’s suicide!”And it’s not that. I went in and spoke with the creators and Patrick Tatopoulos, who was our director, and they explained to me that it was going back into the 12^th Century. We have these two amazing actors -- Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen -- who are still not only very much there, but at the helm of it, and who have incredible gravitas and are phenomenal at what they do. The meld of taking this vampire world and this werewolf world, and putting it in the 12^th Century and just seeing how that’s going to play out with a man like Patrick at the helm, who’s such a visual genius, it’s all really quite exciting. Initially, I was like, “This sounds really scary and weird and awful.” And then, when they explained it all to me, it just seemed amazing.

MediaBlvd> When you get a script for the third movie in a franchise, are you weary about that at all?

Rhona> I was completely weary, and actually totally against it. I wouldn’t even have the conversation because I thought it was a bad idea for me. I didn’t know it was a prequel. I was in the mind-set that a lot of the fans, or people who don’t know about the fact that it’s a prequel, would have been in, thinking, “Really, another one? How are they going to do this? And, wait! Somebody’s going to be playing the role of Kate Beckinsale?” That’s why I was like, “It’s not happening! I don’t want to even have the conversation because I wouldn’t do that. It doesn’t make sense.” When they told me it was a prequel, and that it was also a completely new character, in a period piece with a completely new scenario, it was just the best environment. Our director, Patrick Tatopoulos, created the look of the first two Underworld films. He wasn’t going to be a director who was going to come in and try to put his own flavor on it. You can’t do that to a movie like Underworld. The hue of it has to be the same. The temperature has to be the same. You have a fan base that you have to adhere to because they have that familiarity, and yet you do have to set it apart. All of the things that were necessary for it to be the home it needed to be for me to walk into were there. The minute I understood that, it was an absolute blessing because it’s the most awesome part for a female to play.

MediaBlvd> How so?

Rhona> Oh, my gosh! I get to be this wonderful warrior who rides horses, who is a swordswoman and who is the daughter of this fantastic man, Viktor, who is played by Bill Nighy, so I have to take on some of his character traits. But, in the same breath, she was supposed to be the first-born son, so she has this incredible tenacity. And, I have this wonderful love story with Michael Sheen’s character, who’s a lycan. It’s a true love story with real heart. So, I get to play out all of these amazing things, in one character. I get to go and put armor on, ride horses, chop heads off, be in love and have this issue with my father, which everybody may or may not have. That was really cathartic. There were amazing costumes. I got to play all day in this fantasy world. It’s an amazing character!             

MediaBlvd> Was it difficult to come to terms with fans having the same preconceived notions about the film that you had, before you read the script?

Rhona> Not that I don’t care, but it honestly didn’t really cross my mind at all. Once I got over the fact that I wasn’t filling anybody’s shoes, I realized that it’s just a new movie. As soon as everybody understands that it’s a prequel, there are no further questions. It’s pretty clear. It seems to eradicate that. Everybody is genuinely very excited because they love the world. They just want it to be as good as the first two. They want to make sure it’s taken care of. It comes from a caring place.

MediaBlvd> Having also done Doomsday, what attracts you to these fantasy worlds?

Rhona> I wish I could say that I’m out there fishing for it and I go and find it, but it seems to come to me so maybe you might ask the people in power why. I get presented with the opportunity and, for the most part, there’s a lot of play involved. It’s a lot of really fun, which I don’t think anyone would get the opportunity to have otherwise. I have a huge sense of that and who I am, and it’s why I got involved in this job to begin with -- to get the opportunity to do reverse 180 hand brake turns in a Bentley, and learn how to wrestle and head butt and sword fight and horse ride with fangs and contacts in, and get paid for it. It’s either your cup of tea or it’s not. It’s a big cup of tea for me. I love all of it. It seems that my film work has been very much about that, and then, with my television stuff, I get to go and work with really great writers, whether it’s David Kelley or Ryan Murphy on Nip/Tuck. I get a lovely balance. It’s just the features I do and the characters that seem to come to me happen to be quite physical. People ask me, “So why do you choose these bad-ass characters?,” and I say, “Well, I don’t really. They pick me.”                                                                            

MediaBlvd> Doomsday was set in a futuristic apocalypse and this film is set in the past. How did that compare?

Rhona> Well, Doomsday felt like an apocalypse. No. They’re just night and day. I couldn’t even begin to figure out how to start comparing the two. Mainly, this world is a fantastical one, and it was an environment that had been already created, so I wasn’t responsible for that. They already did that. Underworld 1 and 2 created this home and this environment. All I had to do was figure out a way of fitting into it. Doomsday was about creating. For me, I had one responsibility, which was playing my character and making her authentic. The rest of it was up to the vision of a director (Neil Marshall), who chose to use lots of other movies to create his environment, which I had no control over. I could only be responsible for what I brought to the table. It was a very different approach and a very different project.

MediaBlvd> How did you train and prepare physically for this role?

Rhona> I had done intensive training for Doomsday, and I’m already very athletic anyway. I do a lot of horse riding and rock climbing, so I’m already disposed, in that way. But, Doomsday really prepared me for this. I could pretty much put on my corset, my fangs and my eyes, and slip into the role pretty easily. The only thing I had to think about was how I would maneuver everything with the corset, the fangs and the eyes because that impairs your visibility and your function. Otherwise, I had two months in South Africa, before Doomsday, that was just me by myself with stuntmen going for it, so I can kick some ass.

MediaBlvd> What was it like to shoot in Auckland, New Zealand?

Rhona> Amazing! It was a beautiful country, and an amazing crew. It was wonderful.

MediaBlvd> The costumes in the other films are very iconic. Did a lot of planning go into what you wore in this film?

Rhona> Yeah, it was a big, heavy conversation that I got really involved in because the costumes were so iconic and presented so much without even having to say anything. So, we actually ended up getting the same woman who designed Kate’s costume, Wendy Partridge, who can work her way around leather, corsets and rubber like nobody else. It is a very specific art. Because it’s obviously not futuristic, we couldn’t use any of the latex, or the shiny, wonderful, spanky stuff, so we took it back and used all-natural materials. But, you can definitely see the common thread, where the Selene character and the Sonja character are actually connected, just so that the audience feels there’s a common thread, but it’s entirely different. Even though I am wearing it, I will absolutely, never in my life, wear such a radically phenomenal, sexy outfit. I was pedantic about not wanting to show any flesh in the costume. Everything is covered up. It’s chain male, corsets and leather, kind of like Joan of Arc meets the Selene character, I suppose. It was really cool!

MediaBlvd> Does that type of costume interfere with your physicality, as an actor?

Rhona> Yes. And, on top of it, there was an armor that was built because Sonja is a horsewoman and swordswoman. So, when she goes out as a death dealer, she has to wear this armor on top of the corset, and that was made with real armor, so nothing was pretend, which meant there were all of the problems that would be involved with real armor, and everything which is good because it gives you a sense of what that feels like. It was heavy.

MediaBlvd> Where were you born, and when did you decide to become an actress?

Rhona> I was born in London, but I’m not actually English. I’m only part English. My mother is Irish, and my father is Indian and English. I actually went to Judi Dench’s drama school when I was 17, and it just came organically. I decided that I really wanted to go into the performing arts and I wasn’t sure exactly how it would work out, but I was so tenacious about it that I left drama school after a year and knocked on an agent’s door because I wanted to work so much. I’ve been fortunate that I actually haven’t really stopped working. I started when I was in London. I did a play and some small things, and then I got taken over to America when I was 23. I was offered a role in a TV show, called Party of Five, and since then, it’s just snowballed. Even though I don’t happen to have an incredibly large persona, or anything like that, my work hasn’t stopped. I’m always on the pitch. I always get to play. I always get to work with really great writers.

MediaBlvd> Do you still live in London?

Rhona> I live in London, but I have a base in Los Angeles. I end up going back to Los Angeles a lot. That’s where I did Boston Legal for two years. I did Nip/Tuck for a season. You go wherever your location is, whether it’s New Zealand or Cape Town.

MediaBlvd> You were Lara Croft for awhile, right?

Rhona> Yes. When I was 19, I was hired to be the real life representation of Lara Croft. They motion-captured me.

MediaBlvd> If they restart that franchise, would you be up for resuming that role again?

Rhona> No. I think I might have gotten the best of it because I think the minute it was made into a movie, it was like The Lord of the Rings. You either really get it absolutely right or you don’t. I got to play, and not really have to solidify anything, other than just be there at the stage where it was a new birth. No one knew what they were dealing with at all. No one knew the magnitude of this creature. It was an iconic, pixillated character, and it was really good fun because there were no boundaries and it was just a laugh, really. And then, this thing that was kind of a giggle turned into this catastrophic success, which made the character iconic. The profile that went with that somehow got muddied with mine, and people got confused as to whether I was her or not. There was really an association with that that’s still running.

MediaBlvd> Is the action different in a movie like this, where you’re playing a vampire?

Rhona> It’s entirely different, yeah. I actually found it to be a lot more playful. I had much freer reign, even though I had to keep within this world of vampires and werewolves. It was a lot freer. Having to take on all of these incredibly strange, unusual things, like viruses and the world ending, which I did in Doomsday, and actually play it as a 30-year-old woman who is going to deal with this, it just seemed like an entirely impossible task to make authentic. Whereas, when you’re given a world where you don’t really have to worry about authenticity because your poetic license is endless, you don’t really have to worry about whether you’re getting it right or not, or people are believing you or not, because everybody’s already on the trip with you. In the other case, you’re trying to make people believe that you’re actually a human being that’s taking care of this stuff. It was a lot more playful to be involved in this.

MediaBlvd> Did this film make you more interested in vampires and werewolves, or had you already been interested?

Rhona> It definitely got me more interested. I had a general, genuine interest in them before, but nothing fanatical, by any means. I’ve always loved very good vampire films. I don’t think there are any werewolf films that I can think of. I’ve never been particularly drawn to werewolves, but now that I’ve had a love scene with one, I definitely think of them differently.