Release Date: January 23, 2009
Studio: Screen Gems, Sony
Director: Patrick Tatopoulos
Screenwriter: Danny McBride
Starring: Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra
Genre: Action, Horror
MPAA Rating: Not Available
Official Website: EntertheUnderworld.com
Review: Not Available
DVD Review: Not Available
DVD: Not Available
Movie Poster: Not Available
Production Stills: View here
Plot Summary: This prequel story traces the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans. In the Dark Ages, a young Lycan named Lucian emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against Viktor, the cruel vampire king who has enslaved them. Lucian is joined by his secret lover, Sonja, in his battle against the Death Dealer army and his struggle for Lycan freedom.
SDCC EXCL: Memories of the Underworld
Source: Ryan Rotten
August 5, 2008
In front the camera, actress Rhona Mitra (Doomsday) is a straight-up newcomer to the franchise yet she shares Tatopoulos' enthusiasm for the threequel nonetheless. Here she plays Viktor's daughter Sonja (a role previously filled, albeit briefly, by actress Jazmín Damak in the first Underworld) and Lucian's undercover lover. It's their forbidden relationship, wrought with Shakespearean overtones, that further stirs up the vampire/Lycan drama.
"This goes back to the 12th century and it becomes theatrical and big," Mitra notes. "I think it's brilliant and hilarious. I grew up with two brothers and one of them is a comic book junkie. He's an investment banker but he's got a whole room dedicated to comic books. I'm not as well-versed as him, but I have a genuine love for that world. I think it's fantastical, any excuse to get dressed up. All of it makes sense to me. Vampires, werewolves. I have a four-year-old nephew who thinks it's amazing. More impetus for me to do this."
There was a small physical price to pay for playing dress-up this time, however. "I had a lot of training from my previous work and when I came to this, I hadn't done much with swords. I did a little bit before. But it was a case of Here's your horse. [Sonja's] a horse woman and a swords woman and I couldn't do both pretty aptly. There's chain mail and corsets, you throw those into the mix, it limits maneuverability. So it becomes less about can you sword fight and can you ride a horse? It's about: Can you do both?."
"Bill [Nighy] and I were just talking about what gets us through it and you get so involved in telling the story, everything else disappears except for when you're on about take fifteen and it's the end of the day," she continues. "Your leather chaps are starting to feel about 500 tons and you don't know if you can do it anymore because you can't move. "Mitra had no trepidations about entering into a third chapter of a franchise. With Nighy and Sheen involved, she felt the project had a certain level of gravity to it. "You don't even question it. You just believe them. You just believe Bill is a vampire. He's my dad, but he's a vampire and there are moments I was genuinely shaken up." In addition to a fierce sword fight she shares with Nighy, Mitra admits she does a fair share of "chopping up" Lycans in the prequel. "Big pussycats" is how she describes them. "Those are beautiful costumes and the men wearing them...talk about suffering for your art a little bit," she empathizes. "We were in New Zealand, so I know it was quite hot for them. There were beautiful locations down there. A nice respite."
Knowing full well the fate of her character (you only need to see the first entry to get the details), we still ask if there's a possibility Sonja will return in future Underworld installments. She laughs with, "Because we're in vampire world, possibly. The way this film ends? Doubtful.
Author: lawservices2008
Keywords: Underworld rise of the Lycans comic-con Hall panel Michael Sheen Bill Nighy Rhona Mitra horror movie
Added: August 6, 2008
|
