Bill Nighy Said ‘Underworld’ Was Hard to Film Because of All the Hissing

Nearly 20 years after Underworld was filmed, actor Bill Nighy still recalls an unusual difficulty on set. Though the film was one of the actor’s few action movies, Nighy says the physical demands of playing Viktor, king of the vampires, were not his greatest challenge during filming. The hardest part of acting in Underworld was “all of the hissing.” 

‘Underworld’

Underworld follows the centuries-long battle between vampires and werewolves (known in the film as “Lycans”). Part of a small, elite group of vampire assassins, Underworld’s Selene (Kate Beckinsale) thwarts a plot by the Lycans to capture a human, Michael (Scott Speedman), to get back at them for killing her parents. 

Suspecting that all is not as it seems with one of the vampire leaders, Kraven, Selene awakens her adoptive father and king of the vampires, Nighy’s Viktor. But when Selene learns Viktor is the one who killed her parents and turned her into a vampire, Viktor becomes her target.

The hissing made ‘Underworld’ difficult to film

Nighy, who is best known for his role in Love Actually, describes his experience playing Viktor during his interview for British GQ. In the interview, Nighy breaks down his most iconic roles. When it comes to Underworld, Nighy says, “I enjoyed being a vampire, it was fun.” 

However, Nighy points out, “The great challenge is keeping a straight face because it involves a lot of hissing.” At this point in the interview, he demonstrates, giving a giant hiss. “And, if you’re doing that to another man in his face,” Nighy continues, “it is hard not to laugh.” 

It wasn’t just Nighy and the other actors who struggled with Underworld’s hissing. “As soon as anyone would say ‘cut,’ the crew would just fall apart,” Nighy says.

Bill Nighy jokes that no one wanted to have lunch with him after ‘Underworld’ 

As a vampire over 1,500 years old, Nighy’s Viktor looks a little rough when Selene wakes him up. Speaking about the huge physical transformation he underwent to become Viktor, Nighy tells British GQ “It makes people very uneasy because I looked pretty grim.” 

Hooked up to nearly a dozen intubation tubes delivering blood, Viktor is first seen in a terrifying, zombie-like physical state: Hairless and emaciated, with skin legions covering his body. “The thing is,” Nighy jokes, “they put prosthetics all over your body, and then no one will have lunch with you.”

However, despite his lonely lunches, Nighy has said in multiple interviews that he “loved being a vampire,” and he would happily revisit the role. “I want to be a vampire some more,” Nighy tells celebrity interviewer Parviz Khosrawi. 

Nighy also is an avid reader of sci-fi and says he relishes playing men from “possible near futures.” When asked what roles he would like to play in the future, Nighy immediately replies that he wants a superpower and would love to play a vampire with super-strength or one with the ability to “disappear and reappear somewhere else.” 

So, despite the limited action roles in his career thus far, fans will hopefully see Nighy return to the genre in the near future.