The Underworld franchise returns to theaters this weekend Underworld: Blood Wars, the fifth chapter in the series of vampires and werewolves. Star Kate Beckinsale, who returns for her fourth turn as Selene talked about how she adapted to playing the character, what has changed from the first film to Blood Wars, and not having to film in condemned buildings filled with asbestos.

On how she adapted to playing Selene

The whole thing was like a huge experiment for me because I was doing Shakespeare, Chekov, Pearl Harbor, romantic comedies, that was kind of my thing. I found when I came out here and went to meetings and there was a part, they’d be like, “Well she doesn’t really have much edge,” and I thought I really had to take care of that. And then I way took care of it too much where people were scared of me holding machine guns and stuff.

On not having to film in health hazardous locations

Because it’s almost harkening back to the first one, which is very Gothic and medieval, we didn’t really have to build that many sets because it was already there. There were these amazing castles and caves and caverns and that was pretty cool. It was very cold – probably my least favorite part of it, but walking in and these caves were amazing. When we did the first Underworld, we shot mostly in condemned buildings that were full of asbestos in Budapest. This time around, we upgraded and it was far less of a health hazard.

On how proud she is of Selene

I’m proud that she exists independently from any kind of comic book or original source material. That’s so unusual now. I don’t think the original Underworld would get made in the climate we’re in now. I think people are very scared of making original movies. So it’s not just that she’s female, but there’s that too. [Filmstarts]

On how the iconic costume almost got completely changed

There’s a mini-makeover in this one. The corset is different, there’s a fur coat, the hair is different. At the beginning of this movie, Anna was keen to change the look completely and it just didn’t feel like Selene. There were just some things that needed to stay. [toofab]

Underworld: Blood Wars opens in theaters January 6 and stars Kate Beckinsale and Theo James. Running time is 91 minutes. The movie is rated R for strong bloody violence and some sexuality.