Kate Beckinsale on 'Underworld,' the U.S. election, and father Richard Beckinsale

QUOTES FROM THIS 'LARRY KING NOW' INTERVIEW WITH KATE BECKINSALE:

*Posted Online on Ora.TV on May 23rd 2016:

“I’m always drawn to those characters that aren’t really likable but you sort of like despite yourself. And I really love those characters and they don’t come around that often, but she’s very very bright and very articulate and charming. But she’s also incredibly self-serving and ruthless and rather brutal and I love the kind of challenge of balancing all of those things into one person.” — Kate Beckinsale on why she was drawn to her character, Lady Susan, in the film ‘Love & Friendship’

“I love comedy. I mean in fact, I think I gave it a little bit of a wide birth initially because my father was a very very very well known and beloved comedy actor in England who died very young and very tragically. So his TV shows are really the staples of ’70s British comedy and they’re constantly repeated…His name is Richard Beckinsale. None of them came here so it’s a complete institution in England and he’s very very much associated with comedy and England and I think when I first started I thought, ‘I don’t want to be having the same last name and in the same patch,’ but actually I am very into comedy because I was raised incredibly high quality comedy.” — Kate Beckinsale on growing up with a father who was a comedic actor and how it influenced her.

“I mean, I think I’m most at home with drama and comedy. I still feel a little bit like a fraud in the action department because I didn’t grow up doing karate everyday and I had really no aptitude for P.E. at all so that was something that was really an experiment. And I love the fact that I’m one of those women- you know there’s not many of us that get to do this stuff and for it to work. But at the same time it does feel kind of a weird thing for that to be the thing that’s most associated with you when it’s actually the biggest stretch.” — Kate Beckinsale on which genre she prefers and how she feels like a fraud when it comes to doing action movies.

“There is definitely pay inequality, for sure and even when there isn’t, I mean— I think the other thing that can happen as well is when a woman is earning a good deal of money- I’ve heard this from a lot of people- if she’s earning the most on the set, that can create it’s own problems. I think that there is still a kind of psychological block that probably needs still a few years to be ironed out about certain people’s resistance to that.” — Kate Beckinsale on pay inequality.

“I don’t have a lot of luck with Uber. I’ve got some kind of repelling thing about electronics so if I called an Uber, it probably won’t come but if I have someone else call it for me, it will.”

“Same thing with reality TV. I’m fine as long as I don’t watch it.”

Larry King: “What do your friends in Britain think of Mr. Trump and the gang?”

Kate Beckinsale: “I mean I think it’s quite hard for them to believe. I mean I think we all thought it was a sort of a joke that’s gotten really out of hand.”

Larry King: “The new mayor of London called Mr. Trump’s stance on Islam ignorant.”

Kate Beckinsale: “I’d say that’s probably accurate.”

— Kate Beckinsale on Trump and the U.S. Presidential election.

“Probably less than I would had my step-father not been insanely political growing up. He was a Trotskyist and I was raised in a very political environment…[He was in] the worker’s revolutionary party- Trotskyists - so I very much respect him.” — Kate Beckinsale on growing up in a political environment and how it influenced her lack of involvement in politics today.

“It was huge and in fact, it was 1979 when he died and I know— was John Lennon 1980? The feeling in the streets where we lived was very similar, so in my mind as a child I had the two events confused…I always felt a slight ownership of John Lennon because of that actually. And the other thing was because his shows were repeated constantly, he’s been a very current figure my whole life which is kind of weird now that I am vastly older than he is.” — Kate Beckinsale on her father’s death and the impact it had in Britain.

“Yes and you’re asking me at a time when I could easily say no because teenage years is supposed to be the time when you try and give them back, isn’t it?” — Kate Beckinsale on if she loves being a mother.

“We’ve got quite a few new characters, new villains, new whole worlds…They are fun to do. I mean it’s a weird thing to play the same character that many times. I think in order to make it worthwhile they have to really dream up a lot of different stuff to make stuff happen… I find I get more nervous about the whole action side of it the more I go because I think people’s expectation of me- each movie that goes by- I’m supposed to be Bruce Lee even more each time, so I’ve gotten more nervous about it.” — Kate Beckinsale on the latest installment of the ’Underworld’ series, ‘Blood Wars’, and how she gets more nervous with each passing movie.

“My stepfather’s a director and I grew up watching him and thinking, ‘Oh I really don’t want to do that.’ But I’m writing actually at the moment. Another writer and I are writing a screenplay together, so I’m really enjoying that… It’s kind of quite a dark comedy about a mother and a daughter. It’s actually not [biographical].” — Kate Beckinsale on her interest in writing over directing and on her latest project in the works.

“I think it’s a movie that probably wouldn’t get off the ground if it was starting today because I think we were one of the last movies that really squeaked in and wasn’t based on a video game or a comic book or a remake or something like that, so it’s actually very hard to imagine. But pre-Underworld, I guess what made them go for it was somebody walked into a room and said, ‘I’ve got a novel idea. How about we put vampires and werewolves in the same movie?’ and obviously now, vampires and werewolves are in every single movie and every single of everything… We were the grandma of Twilight.” — Kate Beckinsale on the success of the ‘Underworld’ series and how it may not have gotten off the ground if it was made today.

“The thing that’s really tricky is if you’ve got a child and they’re starstruck or really into somebody, you become like a lunatic if you happen to see that person. So my daughter’s obsessed with the show ‘Hamilton’ at the moment. It’s amazing. We been to see it twice. We both sat there sobbing. Whatever. Anyway, I was doing some publicity in New York and I happen to walk passed a room and that wonderful actor that played Lafayette was in the room and before I knew what I’d done I sort of rushed in and basically licked him on the face. I wouldn’t normally do that because my daughter’s so mad about it.” — Kate Beckinsale on the last time she was starstruck.

“I’ve been in a couple myself, you know. Sometimes I think it’s not a bad idea especially if there’s a movie that’s certainly sort of dated or wasn’t perfect to begin with. But there are certain movies that you just think like I don’t know why you should really touch— that was a moment that should sort of stay a moment.” — Kate Beckinsale on Hollywood’s glut of remakes and reboots.