The cult 2003 role Kate Beckinsale played as a “personal experiment”Prior to landing the role of Selene in the 2003 horror action film Underworld, Kate Beckinsale would have been the last actor of her generation who you’d think would be associated with massive franchise films, but then she decided to take a massive risk. Beckinsale was seen as a strictly Shakespearean actor whose experience on stage benefited her appearances in costume dramas and theatrical adaptations. Her breakout role was in Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, in which her iteration of Hero added far more personality to the role than had been seen in other stage-to-screen depictions. It is remarkable to see how radically Underworld shifted Beckinsale’s career to lead her focus onto action, horror, and genre cinema. In 2004, she married Wiseman and would go on to star in his 2012 remake of Total Recall.