14 DAY TRIAL // Come January 2012, Kate Beckinsale will be back in the leather catsuit vampire Selene is so fond of, in the fourth “Underworld” movie called “Awakening.” Speaking with Flaunt about it, Kate admits she's very much against the idea of big budget movie franchises.
At the same time, she accepts movie roles that pay well. Always honest, Kate is the first to own up to making a few pretty awful decisions in her career, but that's not to say she doesn't feel bad about what's happening in the industry right now.
“I do think it's a shame that it's hard for directors to get an original idea that wasn't a comic or a remake or wasn't a game or something. I think it's very frustrating for directors in general and actors,” she says.
She should know what she's talking about: next year, she will star in “Underworld,” a franchise that was thought dead and buried (or her character, at least) and “Total Recall,” a remake of the film by the same name with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone.
“You're constantly finding yourself having to defend doing a remake when you didn't really want to do one in the first place. If it was up to you, you would be doing your own original sci-fi,” Beckinsale says.
This is how she explains some of the choices she made along the way, which have earned her the label of a gorgeous but otherwise bland actress.
Kate stresses that actors, just like regular people, have to make compromises in order to put food on the table. While the idea of sacrificing everything for your art is noble and admirable, reality always comes crashing in, especially if you have a family to think of as well.
“Basically, the really big movies that I have done that suck have, for me, turned out at various crisis points in my life where I think, ‘[Damn], I need to make sure I can take care of my kid.’ As simple as that,” she says.
“You know, it’s a weird thing that your hobby, the thing you feel great about, is also the thing that makes you go, ‘Okay, well, I have to be able to pay a mortgage bill.’ It shouldn’t be the case. The bottom line is that will happen sometimes,” Kate states as a matter of fact.
She explains why she wasn't in “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” (she wanted to spend more time with her family). She's back for “Awakening,” even though she never expected producers to do another “Underworld” movie.
Even so, fans are thrilled she's back. Many didn't even like “Rise of the Lycans” and had been praying she'd take back her part as Selene, which she eventually did.
Her full interview with Flaunt is here – and it's a very interesting read.