Q 1

PLAYBOY: Underworld: Evolution is your third movie with vampires. Do you have a thing for the undead?

Kate Beckinsale: Not at all. I've never been interested. I did the first Underworld because I love action movies. I like all the Die Hard films and all the Terminators. I'm quite a fan of Rambo. It's what I grew up on. At that point there weren't many opportunities for a girl to play the hero in a movie. I thought Underworld having a female hero was really cool. Then Van Helsing was a whole different thing. It seemed different to me because I didn't play a vampire. But I seem to have acquired this Goth reputation that I'm not into at all.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: Which was harder to get into, your outfit for Underworld or the one for Van Helsing?

Kate Beckinsale: Van Helsing's. We burned it when we finished shooting. I was desperate to burn it the minute I put it on. I did not want to wear those boots ever again. The boots alone took about 20 minutes to put on. The costume designer wanted everything to be authentic, so it was buckle after buckle. My assistant would buckle one, and someone else would buckle the other. They ended up with giant calluses on their hands. It was really horrible. The Underworld costume wasn't that bad. It was a bit stretchy and not that restrictive. As long as you don't have to pee 25 times a day it's okay.

Q 3

PLAYBOY: As a teenager you appeared in an industrial-safety film. What was your role?

Kate Beckinsale: It's hideous. I would never show you. I was probably 17 or 18, and it was a training video about safety. I played a factory worker who dreams of being a pop star. Then I run down a corridor, skid on some cleaning fluid and become a paraplegic. It's fantastically bad. I look terrible, and the whole thing is ghastly. It's one of those things I put every boyfriend through to make sure he can actually handle being with someone who has done something so appalling. It's like telling them I've had a sexually transmitted disease and asking, "How do you feel about me now?"

Q 4

PLAYBOY: You've spent the past 13 years with only two men--Michael Sheen, the father of your daughter, and Len Wiseman, your husband and the director of the Underworld movies. Do you feel you've missed out?

Kate Beckinsale: No, I don't. You gain something and lose something by that. I remember being 13 or 14 and everyone was going to parties and making out with everybody else. My mom told me, "Just bear in mind that you don't want loads of people to be able to say they've had you. Make it special." I thought that was really cool, and I still do. It's not a gift you bestow on any old sucker. You have to be privileged.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: We hear that you and your husband use webcams while you're apart. Is that true?

Kate Beckinsale: Yes. We play with those all the time. It was his idea. He bought them and set them all up. Then he gives me orders as to what sort of outfit I should wear each evening. It really helps.