Len Wiseman: “We made a few changes to them. We changed the werewolves a little bit - just made minor alterations to them. We also, because a lot of the werewolves that we were showing in this one were in some flashbacks that show them going to the past, we just wanted the werewolves to look a little less evolved. So there’s more hair on them. They’re a bit more feral looking. So we changed them a bit and then there’s more - much more with one of our elders."
Patrick Tatopoulos: “Well, you have basically new werewolves you haven’t seen in the first one and new vampires taken to the next level. I think the vampires in the first one… You know Kate [Beckinsale] and everybody else was mostly lenses and teeth. This time vampires have also gone to the next level – more creature-like. So that’s interesting. It’s different, and we had different wolves as well. Although the old ones come back...”
Len Wiseman: “The old ones come back. But we’ve got one that’s much more in the traditional werewolf vein. He’s a little bit more of a snout, just has more of a wolf presence than the other ones. I really wanted to make a point that in the first film I didn’t want them to have the long snouts. I really wanted them to have the different style because we hadn’t seen that before. I’d seen that look quite a bit. But then this character that’s in this film dates back further and so his evolution process, we wanted it to feel like it was a little bit closer to the wolf.”
On the Story of “Underworld Evolution:”
Len Wiseman: “A lot of it is in what we discover is the actual truth of a lot of the history. We discover what legends are false [and] what legends are true. So a lot of what we thought was going on is we discover, actually, that over time the history has been twisted by those in power and so a lot of that starts to come out. Without giving a lot away, there’s new reveals that tie into Selene’s past that she wasn’t even aware of. She’s much more emotionally involved now than she was in the first one because of what she discovers for the first time.”
On the Attraction of Revisiting “Underworld” with a Sequel:
Len Wiseman: “Actually, the fact that I wasn’t doing it all over again is what excited me. I sat down with the studio and said, ‘Look, I’d love to do ‘Underworld 2’ if it’s a completely different movie.’ I wanted a whole different tapestry and environment, and I had no interest whatsoever to just do the first movie over again with different effects and different settings and all that. And I was able to do that and they were really behind me in going a lot of different directions than maybe they even felt comfortable with, but I wanted to make such a different type of film. So that’s what interested me.”
On What They Learned from the First “Underworld” Movie:
Len Wiseman: “Plenty of things. I mean there’s a lot that both Patrick and I learned. It’s great to actually re-visit it because there’s, of course, things that you discover that work better or things that didn’t work that you want to improve. Just to point out things, just right down to the creatures we had many things that [we changed] - some things that you’ll notice, some things that you won’t. Some things that you won’t notice were a huge help for me just in terms of the technology involved.”
Patrick Tatopoulos: “For an example, just for the creature, the first werewolf, we liked the design. We wanted to do something with big massive necks. And when we built them and we realized the guys were stuck in there and couldn’t turn as much. The first sets we did for Len, we put those heads with no neck and the guys were doing great moves and Len was very pleased. Then the neck came and they got stuck.”
Len Wiseman: “They lost all the movement.”
Patrick Tatopoulos: “You wanted longer hair actually hiding a neck that’s much more moveable. So now they had to change the design of the creature to get to another level, and at the same time, to allow him to do more with the creature. Extension legs, the way the creature moved as well.”
Len Wiseman: “I wanted much more mobility with them. I felt like I loved the design that we came up with, but at the end of the day there was a little bit of a… We had a big action figure that couldn’t move that much. And then so all of the joints and everything, we - I don’t know exactly what you guys did – but we re-worked them to where they could move. Like when I’m casting the guy to play the monster himself - I like his movements, I don’t want to weigh him down and not allow his performance to come through.”
Len Wiseman: “That’s why very often on projects you turn to CGI. People get tired. They just get tired. It’s painful to shoot creatures on set.”
Len Wiseman: “It is. It’s a pain in the a**. It completely is.”
