By Thomas Chau in New York City

I got a chance to interview Kate Beckinsale last September when she was on her press tour to talk about "Underworld." I must say that it was one of the most pleasant experiences I have ever had talking to a celebrity and it goes down as one of my all-time favorite interviews on this website. She is absolutely the most stunningly gorgeous woman I have ever seen in person and has a great sense of humor. (I often bring up the story about her saying she was "freaking out" over me wearing my Pearl Harbor shirt in front of her.) I joked to my friends that I would never be able to tell any future girlfriends or wives that they were the most beautiful women in my life, simply because it wouldn't be true: Kate's a hard one to top.

This Friday, she stars in "Van Helsing," her second fantasy/sci-fi movie in less than a year which, coincidentally, also has vampires and werewolves. Kate plays the role of Anna Valerious, the last surviving member of a family who for generations have dedicated their lives to saving the world from evil. She offers her help to Gabriel Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman), who must fight Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) in order to stop Dracula from giving life to a large mass of offspring vampires.

Like "Underworld," Beckinsale finds herself bringing out both the feminine and physical toughness for her role in "Van Helsing." She attributes "Underworld" as being a great precursor to her work in "Van Helsing." Says Kate, "I would have been in huge trouble if I hadn’t done 'Underworld.' We had a great stunt coordinator who would tell me to jump off this 80 foot tall building but I knew how to do it. I found it really helpful and sometimes it’s really helpful to be around friendly people who you trust." It is for this reason that she seems to have remain unscathed by the experience. "The only stunt I hurt myself on was when I was running up to a window and I banged my elbow."

Kate, as Anna, is surrounded by dazzling monsters and vampire brides in ellaborate costumes. But don't tell Kate that she had it easy: "I was in makeup for three hours a day! It was a nightmare. The boots took 25 minutes to get on. Every tiny curl in my hair took so long."

As for jumping into another sci-fi/fantasy role immediately after "Underworld," she says that had no qualms about jumping into this project simply because of its new and fresh take on the material. "I remember when I got the script for this, even though it had vampires and werewolves in it, my character was so different because first of all I’m not a vampire myself. She’s a gypsy, passionate and human. It just seemed like a different role."

Kate has also gone on record saying that her male co-star, Hugh Jackman, is the nicest man in Hollywood. "It was a very comfortable set," she says, adding that for six months, she tried finding something wrong or evil about Hugh but came up with nothing. "The set was full of nasty English and Australian people and we wanted to find out what’s going on there. He could be wearing women’s underwear or diddling with animals. We were peering in his trailer and popping in unexpectedly, but there was nothing."

Part of the fun for her, as well, was working with writer/director Stephen Sommers. She says that he brought out the best in the cast, commenting that "he is this highly enthusiastic, almost child-like excited person. The people that he chooses to work with have an element of that as well. We all responded to that in him. You only have to watch him watching the monitor. He’s twitching, moving and saying all the lines along with everyone. It’s extraordinary. He’s like a kid with his very expensive Barbie and Ken." This combination of working with both Sommers and Jackman made the experience an absolutely worthwhile one. "I really did find that working with people like Stephen and Hugh made it possible to get through it. I had such a profound experience on this because they gave me freedom to just go. It was really liberating."

So will there be a third vampire/werewolf movie for Kate in the form of an "Underworld" sequel? She reveals, "Were I not marrying the director, I’m not sure I’d know anything about the 'Underworld' sequel. I know he’s reading scripts in the bathroom while I’m supposed to be doing something else. The first draft is under lock and key at the moment."

"Van Helsing" opens in theatres this Friday.