© DR - UNDERWORLD de Len Wiseman (2003) p25 par tellurikwaves blog (75 Paris)

There were no special effects used to alter Kevin Grevioux's (Raze's) voice. It actually gets that deep naturally.

The 'attack dogs' outside of the vampire mansion were actually very docile and playful canines, which were the only dogs available at the time. For the scene where they chase Scott Speedman, director Len Wiseman had to film short clips of the dogs running and later put in sounds of vicious barking. If you look closely though you can see their tails happily wagging back and forth.

According to writer/actor Kevin Grevioux, the model for the Selene character was the psychic vampire of the Hellfire Club in the X-Men comics, the Black Queen Selene.

Although Lucien is the lead Lycan, he only ever shifts once into his full werewolf form, and that's in a flashback scene.

Days before its US opening, the president of Screen Gems green lit not only a sequel to the movie Underworld but also a prequel after seeing the number of tickets sold in Canada alone.

Kate Beckinsale first met future husband Len Wiseman on the set.

The movie was initially pitched as "Romeo and Juliet for vampires and werewolves".

'Selene', the heroine's name, is the Moon in Greek mythology.

Len Wiseman opted to shoot many of the action and effects sequences live, without computer imagery. In one scene, for instance, a werewolf seems to run more than 50 mph behind a speeding car. This was shot using an elaborate rig towed behind a vehicle, with actor Michael Sheen doing the closeups of the running and the jump onto the car, while the long shot of Lucian running was done by stuntman Todd Schneider.

The name of the city where the film took place is never mentioned. However Michael's address that we can see on Selene's computer is an apparently misspelled Hungarian address (it should be "Lakatos József u. 39." while it is spelled as "Laktos Joszef 39 ut." instead). You can also read "Eötvös utca", a street in the historical downtown of Budapest, many times while driving by to the secret interrogation place and there is an ad in the subway station where the shooting takes place in the beginning of the movie referring to Szentendre which is a small town near Budapest (obviously left there as non-Hungarian viewers don't understand the text anyway).

Rhona Mitra, who was considered for Selene, would later play Sonja in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

Scott Speedman suffered a concussion when a set prop that was supposed to be a piece of the wall Viktor had just thrown him through hit him in the head.

A kiss between Michael and Selene (when she unchains him in Lucian's lab) appears in the trailer but was not included in the theatrical release or on the DVD, but it is on the unrated version of Underworld.

Halle Berry, Milla Jovovich and Rhona Mitra were considered for the lead role.

The ancient tome which Selene uses to research the history of Kraven features pages from three different sources, all shown before "The Fall of Lucian." The first, featured on the page with the seals of Amelia, Viktor, and Marcus, is an ancient Hungarian text entitled Funeral Sermon and Prayer. The second is an old Catholic Roman Missal, including the Propers of the Second Mass for All Souls' Day. The third is a book entitled Instructissima Bibliotheca Manualis Concionatoria, which is also featured between pages of the story of the fall of Lucian.

White Wolf, Inc. and author Nancy A. Collins filed suit against Sony Pictures, Screen Gems, and Lakeshore Entertainment on 4 September 2003 for copyright infringement little more than a week before the theatrical release of Underworld, alleging 17 counts of copyright infringement, and claiming over seventy points of unique similarity between White Wolf's role-playing games, "Vampire: The Masquerade", "Werewolf: The Apocalypse", and their creation, "The World of Darkness", in which the games are set. Nancy A. Collins is the author of a short story, "The Love of Monsters", published in 1994 by White Wolf Inc, and set in the World of Darkness, which she claims the entire plot of Underworld is based on. The suit was settled out of court, for an undisclosed amount.

Kate Beckinsale's character Selene is not seen speaking until roughly 12 minutes into the film, however her narration starts almost as soon as the movie does.

The actors only had two weeks of wirework and prop training for the movie.

Michael Sheen and Wentworth Miller were both interviewed for the Scott Speedman role.

Len Wiseman wanted David Bowie to appear as a vampire at the vampire's feast, but due to some time problems it did not work out.

After the underground station fight, the tunnels where Selene kills a Lycan are a champagne cellar.

This movie marked Len Wiseman's feature film directorial debut.

The woman in the picture Selene finds in Michael's apartment is the wife of writer Danny McBride.

The underground tunnels used for the Lycan/vampire battle at the end of the movie were mostly shots of the same small rubble set, but shot from different angles and lighting in order to make it look like different locations underground. During the DVD commentary, director Len Wiseman laughed at this fact and pointed out the scenes in which this trick photography was used.

It only took two days to film Wentworth Miller's role

The song used for the trailer is called "Red Tape" by 'Agent Provocateur'.

When Selene first encounters Lucien, she gets cornered by Lycans and fires her guns through the floor in order to escape. Eleven years prior, this cinematic stunt was performed by the main character in the 1992 film "Nemesis."

CINEMA :Les blessures narcissiques d'une vie par procuration

© DR - UNDERWORLD de Len Wiseman (2003) p25

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