Last December, I went to Prague to visit the set of the fifth Underworld movie, Underworld: Blood Wars. While a trip to Prague would get me to visit the set of just about any movie, the location holds particular appeal for the Underworld franchise, which is looking to go back to its roots in its latest installment. The series began with its embrace of gothic landscapes before moving to a more techno, sci-fi bent with the sequels. But as I learned from my day on set, Blood Wars has an eye towards the past when it comes to building the future of the series.
We arrived on Day 39 of 49 for the production, and started off by interviewing producer David Kern. He was refreshingly open with us regarding the state of the series, and acknowledged that they hadn’t made story as much of a priority on the previous movie, Underworld: Awakening. Kern said he’s much happier with what they have for Blood Wars. He also told us:
- Selene and David go to visit the Nordic coven, a group of vampires living peacefully in a colder climate.
- They’re not bringing back Scott Speedman or the actress who plays Selene’s daughter because they want to keep pushing those characters down the road.
- There are some characters in the Nordic coven who could make for good spinoff movies.
- They wanted to shoot in Prague because it has the gothic, Eastern European vibe of the first movie.
- Director Anna Foerster wanted to go back to practical wolf suits for the lycans.
- Kern says the movie feels most like Underworld 1 although he notes he didn’t start working on the series until the third film.
- He says that Blood Wars is an improvement on Awakening because Awakening is basically an 88-minute chase movie, but this has “the best story”, and “it’s without question the best Kate character arc.”
- They considered various subtitles for the film. While we were on set, it was still referred to as "Underworld 5".
We then went to check out the Lycans prosthetic suits and speak with Anna O’Kane and Jack Firman from Masters FX. There were only two suits, and they’ll be used for close-up work while most of the Lycan stuff will be done with CG. Here’s what else we learned:
- Each suit is about 20 to 25 pounds of foam rubber.
- It takes about 20 minutes to put someone inside a suit.
- It’s quadruple the thickness of a wetsuit.
- These are pretty much the original suits as the original 2003 movie, but they had to re-mold the hands because they have different actors.
- The animatronic heads are fairly limited in their range of expressions.
- In addition to four suits, they only had four heads, which includes the animatronics and the “hero stunt” which is a rubber mask for the actor.
- It takes 2 to 2 ½ months to build a suit.
- The legs and eye-blink will be done with CGI.
- At the very end of the shoot there’s a scene where one of the Lycans falls in water. They saved the scene for the end because it takes a week for the suit to dry out.
We then moved on to check out the Eastern Coven’s dojo, which was easily the most impressive set we saw. It’s got the perfect blend of the gothic architecture and modern armaments the series has become known for. You walk beneath gothic arches, but if you turn to your left you’ll see assault rifles and if you turn to your right you’ll see samurai swords. Here’s what we learned from production designer Ondrej Nekvasil, who’s past credits include Snowpiercer, The Illusionist, and Everly:
- The idea was to always take a gothic style and then dress it slightly modern, and you can see those touches in the light fixtures, tables, etc.
- The giant cage in the middle is made to look like hard steel all around, but it was designed with the stunt team since it will be used for a set piece.
- There is a frighteningly thin layer of padded rubber on the inside of cage that blends into the metal exterior, although I can’t imagine it significantly softening the blow.
- Commenting on the samurai swords standing alongside assault rifles, Nekvasil explained that the diversity in weaponry represents diversity among vampires.
- We won’t be seeing much of the lycan space in Underworld: Blood Wars.
- It took ten weeks to build the dojo.
- The Nordic Coven’s castle (which we didn’t see) is more monastic. However, we did check out the Coven’s “Ice Pool”, which was made to look like an ice cavern complete with columns of ice extending from the floor to the ceiling. There will also be a running waterfall in the background in the movie.
- It took 40 people 7 to 8 weeks to build this set, which will only be in a few scene of the movie (assuming those scenes don’t get cut in the editing room).
- They started designing in June/July, began construction in August, and shooting commenced in October.
We then went to observe some very brief filming. For those who don’t know how set visits work, you hope that you get something exciting and juicy, but as even director Anna Foerster would admit to us when we spoke to her at the end of the visit, we didn’t get the most exciting day. That’s not to say that the film itself won’t be exciting, but all we saw was the main villain Marius (Tobias Menzies) walking down a hallway, saying a spoilery line of dialogue, briefly fighting Selene (Kate Beckinsale) while in the background, David (Theo James) tries to come to her aid only to have to stop and cross blades with Semira (Lara Pulver), the film’s other big bad.
After watching a handful of takes on a monitor, we went back to the pressroom and waited for our next interview, Lara Pulver. During our conversation with her, she told us:
- Her character has a big fight with Theo James and she uses axes and swords.
- Her character wants to steal Selene’s power, especially her power to walk in the sun.
- Although she sees Semira as determined and laser-focused, she’s also a character who is riddled with doubt.
- Her entry point in doing research on the character was the definition of a vampire as “one who lives by preying on others.”
- She took some inspiration from Tom Hiddleston’s Loki by noting the character’s sad desperation.
Look for the full interview with Pulver in the days ahead.
Later, we moved on to the costume department, where I got a swift uppercut of leather odor. If you’ve seen an Underworld movie, you know the only thing lycans and vamps can agree on is that leather is the only way to go when it comes to clothing. They were already starting to pack up, but there were still designs for us to observe on the wall and racks of costumes for us to see. We also learned:
- While the Eastern Coven sticks to black, the Nordic Coven goes white. However, they also bear a lot of skin since vampires can’t feel cold.
- Samira was the most challenging character to dress and she also has the most changes.
- Her banquet gown is made to look like it’s streaked with black blood.
- The lycan costumes stick to Earth tones—green and brown. They also put fur on the lycan coats when they head up North to the Nordic vampires.
- They’re hoping to keep the costumes they built for the Nordic Coven, all of which were made for this movie and could possibly be reused for future sequels.
-The Nordic Coven also has armor they wear when they come to visit the Eastern Coven.
- Refined Selene’s 2003 Underworld costume by stripping it down and making it more streamlined, yet holding onto to the shape and silhouette.
After checking out the costumes, we returned to the pressroom to finish out the day with interviews. First up was Bradley James, who plays Varga. He says the Eastern Coven vampire is “the guy who cheats at poker, but gives the winnings to the orphanage down the street.” He also told us:
- Varga is a bit of a wild card.
- Director Anna Foerster was open to his ideas on what to do with the character.
- He wanted to make Varga “weirder than your average weirdo.”
- He’s enjoyed playing the vampire side of Varga.
- Varga is the most prolific death dealer in his coven, but he’s no match for Selene.
Look for the full interview with James in the days ahead.
We then spoke with Tobias Menzies. Foerster actually campaigned for Menzies to get the role of Marius since the two had previously worked together on the Starz’ series, Outlander. Menzies told us:
- What it was like to re-team with Foerster on an action movie.
- How he prepared for his role by watching African dogs at the London zoo.
- How he had to spend an hour in make-up for his hybrid form, but his werewolf form is being done with CGI.
Look for the full interview with Menzies in the days ahead.
Finally, our day wound to a close with Foerster herself. Having previously worked as a cinematographer for Roland Emmerich on White House Down as well as directing TV episodes of Outlander, this her feature directorial debut. During our interview, she told us:
- She took issue with Underworld: Awakening because it felt too sci-fi, and that the mother-daughter element wasn’t as developed as it could have been.
- She was excited by the idea of having the lycans becoming an organized threat as opposed to how they were treated in previous movies.
- The Nordic vampires offer a change of pace since they have their own superpowers, but they also tend to use older weaponry as opposed to guns.
- She wanted Menzies to play Marius because she knew he could play the character as both charming and cruel.
- For her, there’s a parallel between jumping into a TV show like Outlander and jumping into the middle of a franchise like Underworld. The demands of day-to-day shooting are more complex, but it’s not radically different.
- She understands that Underworld has its own rules, especially in terms of its monochromatic look, but the studio and the producers gave her a lot of leeway to build upon those rules to achieve her vision.
- Everything Selene does in this movie is ultimately dictated by the motherhood she found in the last movie.
Click here for the full interview with Foerster.
It’s hard to believe that the Underworld franchise is already 13 years old, but it’s undergone a lot of changes. To those it originally lured it, it looks like those fans will be happy with Foerster’s take on the material, which is to lean heavily on the more gothic aspects and expanding the vampire world rather than get bogged down in sci-fi stuff like Underworld: Awakening. While the Underworld series has never been a blockbuster franchise, I was impressed with what they’ve accomplished and how they’re accomplishing it. Hopefully, Selene’s next outing will be her strongest yet.
Underworld: Blood Wars opens January 6, 2017.
For more from my set visit, click on the link below: