Michael Sheen is doing a lot these days but apparently he hasn’t forgotten where he started and wouldn’t mind going back there. The people of cinemablend.com give us this:
Michael Sheen has been a busy little bee these days with no less than three projects up in the air, and that’s just on the big screen. In an interview with Coming Soon about his current PR child The Queen, in which he plays British PM Tony Blair, CS took the opportunity to squeeze for a little fan boy juice. Here’s what they came up with regarding that Underworld 3 prequel we told you about a while back.
When asked if he’d like to go back and play Lucian he said, ” Oh, yeah, absolutely! I love playing that character. It’s great, and I’m always amazed by how popular the character is with people who are into that sort of genre thing. He adds, “It’s an incredibly popular character, so I think the idea is that we’re trying to work out the whole idea of doing a third film. It would be a prequel and it would be about Lucian, the third film. Hopefully, we’ll get that together.
I’m not a fan of Underworld movies, even with Kate Beckinsale doing her girl power kick butt thing with cool vampires it just never floated my boat. But I do like Michael Sheen. He did a few lower profile roles before Underworld and in everything I’ve seen him in he has been a strong actor, even when there wasn’t much to work with.
Now there are reasons for Sheen to do this movie and reason for him to pass.
Reasons against doing the prequel: Many prequels are not successful. Yes of course we hear about the winners like Star Wars but what about the poorly executed cash grabs that were Ginger Snaps back: the beginning or Tremors 4: the Legend begins or Butch and Sundance: the Early Days. Also Sheen has moved on in his career, he did a wonderful job as Tony Blair in The Queen, opposite Helen Mirren, he has the role of Nero Caesar in Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire and he will no doubt be getting better offers for interesting role that he hasn’t played before. Finally, there is just doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest for another Underworld movie.
However there are reasons for this flick to go on ahead and beneficial parts to Sheen doing his role again. First is the fact that there is a new twist on the Underworld if it is delving into the life of Lucian may get fans interested in another movie. Also since Sheen’s role will have more screen time that means there will be more cash involved, probably quite a lot more. And also it does show respect for a film that really put Michael Sheen on the map.
Do I think it’s enough? Nope. It’s possible the Underworld Prequel will be a box office hit. But It think it will more likely be a blow to Sheen’s career.
What does everyone out there think, if Sheen goes through with this movie will it help or hurt his career?
