Even though Wiseman steered clear of most CG effects, after the trailer was placed online, Internet chat rooms and forums were abuzz, bashing the director for adding CG to “Underworld.” Wiseman, an admitted computer geek, went online often to check out the latest rumors. He found comments such as, “I’m so tired of this Wiseman guy using... Once again another CG...” “I was like, ‘There’s no CG. We have two shots that were an afterthought.’ The running down the walls and everything, we built the hallway upside down and then had all the werewolves on wires. We actually shot one at a time and had him do flips and bound and go back and forth. Then we’d do another pass and put it all together,” responds Wiseman.
The movie will be compared to films such as “The Matrix” and “The Crow,” but director Wiseman immediately thought of another film that’s sure to draw comparisons. “I knew right from the beginning, ‘Okay, we’ve got a vampire movie and it’s got guns. It’s ‘Blade.’’ Or if you’ve got somebody up in black leather, it’s ‘The Matrix.’ Because it’s so popular, that’s what you’re up against. You kind of have to go with what you like, what’s your style. People say, ‘Is this influenced by ‘The Crow,’ ‘Bladerunner,’ 'Batman?’ To me it’s influenced from my music video commercial reel that I’ve been doing for five or six years. It’s just the style that I like. [Comparisons are] becoming a bit of a problem, especially for genre films. What do you want? You want the bad-ass vampire to wear red? White? Blue?”
In developing the fictional underground world of warring vampire and werewolf clans, Len Wiseman was very specific about the texture of that make-believe world. While the trailer’s blue/gray tones are closer to Wiseman’s vision, the finished movie features richer colors. Audiences will have to wait until the DVD release to see a version of the film closer to the look the director wanted. “I hate color," admitted Wiseman, adding, "I’m getting better at adding a little more color here and there. I just like that look. I like that it kind of creates this other world that you just don’t see when you walk outside. When I was developing ‘Underworld’ I was trying to get everybody in art direction on the same page. I’m trying to make a living breathing graphic novel. It is a gritty. I’m trying to make it realistic but in ‘Underworld,’ in this world you’d never go to a supermarket. They aren’t cool. There aren’t any. You can go to a subway, but you can’t go to a 7-11 or Ralphs. You can’t go pick up some bread at Ralphs. It doesn’t exist in that world.”
ADDITIONAL "UNDERWORLD" RESOURCES:
Kate Beckinsale / Scott Speedman
