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The centuries-old feud between the vampire and werewolf clans was settled with the decisive battle between the vampire warrior "Goddess of the Moon" Selene and the werewolves. The werewolves and vampires screamed, died, in bloody bites and fights. To mention the origin of this hatred that has continued for countless centuries, we have to go back to the ancient times to uncover the mystery... In the distant dark ages, vampires and werewolves each occupied a place. Although there were frequent frictions of varying sizes, they generally lived in peace without infringing on each other.

Among the werewolves, Uro (played by Bill Nighy) was the leader of the werewolf clan, wielding supreme power. Uro was cruel and often indulged the werewolves to provoke trouble at the gathering places of vampires, causing numerous frictions. Despite many werewolves advising Uro, he insisted on his own way. Eventually, a werewolf named Lucian (played by Michael Sheen) rose up and led other werewolves who were dissatisfied with Uro's rule to rebel against Uro's tyranny. However, Uro's imperial army was not an easy opponent. After several major battles, Lucian's resistance army retreated step by step.

While the werewolf clan was in internal turmoil, the vampire clan could no longer sit still. The king of the vampire clan also led a group of vampires into the land of the werewolves, claiming to help maintain peace among the werewolves. In reality, they were gradually encroaching on the territory of the werewolves. Among the vampires, Sonia (played by Rhona Mitra) fell in love with Lucian, the leader of the werewolf resistance army. Although both fought for their respective races, they both wanted to end the war as soon as possible. The werewolf clan united to resist the invasion of the vampires; and Sonia and Lucian also re-understood the meaning of freedom in this war...

Behind-the-scenes production

A completely new team creates the sequel

Six years ago, a movie about the war between werewolves and vampires called "Underworld" won widespread attention from audiences. Its dark, cold style was praised, and the lead actress Kate Beckinsale also married the director Len Wiseman. "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" adopted a completely new production team, from the director to the main actors were all replaced. This time, Patrick Tatopoulos, who served as the visual effects supervisor for many years, directed the film for the first time. He said about the film: "The biggest problem in shooting this film is how to make it independent in the story while maintaining consistency with the previous two films in style. First of all, it was difficult for the screenwriters, 'Rise of the Lycans' is not a sequel to the previous two films, but a prequel that reveals the causes of many events in the previous two films. I think the audience will be very interested in understanding the origin of the conflict between werewolves and vampires. 'Rise of the Lycans' retains many settings from the previous two films, such as the overall tone of the movie and clothing styles, so these three episodes look like a whole, giving the audience a sense of continuity."

Patrick Tatopoulos mentioned the main storyline of the film: "This point remains consistent with the previous two films, still narrated from a female perspective. Everyone knows that our lead actress has changed from Kate Beckinsale to Rhona Mitra. Their personalities have some similarities, both are strong female warriors, and both have feelings for other races. The main storyline revolves around Sonia played by Rhona Mitra. She is a vampire warrior who has feelings for a werewolf, which constitutes the conflict of the entire movie. As for the audience's most interested reason for the grudge between werewolves and vampires, the film also gives reasons, I believe the audience will get a satisfactory answer."

Recreating the cinematic visuals

For the visual effects of the film, Patrick Tatopoulos, who has been involved in the field for many years, said: "The entire movie has hundreds of special effects shots, especially the towns in the territories of the werewolves and vampires, which are basically fully rendered using CG. This poses a challenge to the actors' performances, as I require them to imagine enemies that are not present. In terms of CG production, the film has a strong sense of time, with ancient, sturdy castles, vampire nobles, and hairy werewolves. The near-future style of the previous two films is more concentrated, but the style of this film is closer to the medieval aesthetic view. We referenced many similar vampire-themed works, including some vampire films I shot in the past. At the same time, we ensured that these scenes and costumes retained the style of the previous two films, so that the audience would feel the connection between them and not feel abrupt."

There is a scene in the film where thousands of vampires fight against werewolves, and this scene is also the focus of CG production. Regarding the shooting of this scene, Patrick Tatopoulos said: "We did a lot of preparatory work before shooting and referenced some movies that used similar technology to create similar scenes. Before filming, we drew a lot of storyboards to show the war from various aspects such as the whole and the local situation. I didn't want it to look chaotic, I hope the audience can understand how the heroes of martial arts fight. Besides showing all the details, the feeling of the lens is also a very important matter, so balancing the whole and the details is a tricky issue. Finally, I used a continuously moving long shot to complete one segment. This long shot was discussed many times with the staff of the CG production department, and the final plan was very impressive, for which I have to thank the hard work of the CG production department."

Sexy Vampires

In "The World Is Not Enough", Rhona Mitra was considered by the audience to look very much like Kate Beckinsale in "Underworld", and this time taking over Kate Beckinsale's role in "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans", Rhona Mitra appeared very confident: "Although the character is completely different, I think the audience will definitely compare my Sonia with Kate Beckinsale's Selene. Personally, I learned a lot from the character played by Kate Beckinsale, which is also the director's requirement, we must unify the style of the entire series. However, the director gave me space to adjust the inner side of the character. When I acted, I paid attention to the overall image of my character all the time, because I didn't want to give the audience the impression of 'another Selene'."

Regarding the story of the film, Rhona Mitra said: "I linked many things in the film, and there is a romantic relationship with the werewolves. There are many action scenes in the film, especially a fight between me and the werewolves. The entire scene was actually completed by me alone in front of the green screen in the studio, and all the werewolves were added later in post-production. During the shooting, I kept thinking in my mind, how many werewolves should be in front, how many on the left, and how many on the right, then kept making chopping and dodging gestures, which looked quite silly (laughs). The story was written very well, I am a fan of "Underworld", so I am also very interested in the story of this prequel. Now being able to shoot the prequel feels great, and during the shooting, I also offered some of my own opinions, but what made me very unhappy is that the director and screenwriter almost didn't adopt any of them (laughs). Well, they made me look beautiful and sexy, so I forgive them."

Trivia

• Due to the resignation of the protagonist Kate Beckinsale from the first two parts, the script of this film had to be modified to some extent.

• The investment of the first "Underworld" was 20 million; and the second part was 25 million. The budget for the third installment "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" reached 40 million, making it the highest-budgeted work in the series.

• When selecting the new protagonist for this film, the producer once considered Milla Jovovich. But Milla Jovovich frankly admitted that she didn't like the story, eventually abandoning the shooting plan of this movie, and Rhona Mitra took over as the female lead.