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Is it fun to make Viktor even more evil?

Bill Nighy: "There is something, yes. I mean traditionally it's more fun to play bad guys than it is good guys. And when you're playing a bad guy, yes, the fun in it is to see how scary you can be, how horrible you can be. And it’s surprising what you can come up with. It’s surprising. One surprises oneself with how lousy you can be, and how really kind of cool you can appear to be.

So, yes, it is fun. And in this one I have to do things which are just really edgy in terms of drinking of blood and family issues. There's a lot of very, very edgy stuff and it's very difficult sometimes keeping a straight face. There's a lot of hissing in this movie as well. Michael Sheen and I, we have whole scenes without dialogue where we simply try and out hiss one another, and there's something about that which is very satisfying as well. And we did used to, as soon as they shout, 'Cut,' you just fall apart laughing because it is so stupid, you know? Two grown men doing take after take of violent hissing and spitting, which is very, very funny."

Patrick Tatopoulos takes over this time as director. What was it like on the set working with a new director when you know the franchise so well?

Bill Nighy: "Well it was absolutely marvelous and it’s entirely a credit to Patrick. He seamlessly took over the reins. He’s very like Len, both personally and professionally, because they both have a history of being in visual effects.

They're both endlessly courteous and decent men. They're incredibly good company, sharp as anything on the story. You would never know that Patrick was a first time director. You would never [know]. If you walked on the set there would be nothing that indicated to you."

"I would go to work with Patrick for the rest of my life. I would be perfectly happy working with Patrick on anything. He’s very good at tuning the performance and keeping, something I can't do, keeping the whole thing in his head not only in terms of the story - and obviously visually he’s incredible - but in terms of the tone, the style, what teeters over into shtick. Which is my failing because I have a tendency just to push it too far. He’s very, very, he’s tasteful is what I’m saying, and he’s as sharp as anything. And Len was around as well. Len was there, and it didn’t feel like it was suddenly some new regime. Patrick’s always been there and Len’s always been there, it’s just that they did different jobs. It was a good feeling and there was no static, and it didn’t feel problematic at all."

Now being that this is the third Underworld movie, looking back would you have changed anything about how you performed Viktor or how he looked throughout the first two movies that would have allowed you to do anything different in the third? Or is he different in this third movie because it's a prequel?

Bill Nighy: "I try and keep it faithful to the first one. Yes, I probably would have played it different if you gave me another shot, but I don’t quite know what I would have done. I would have probably… no, I don’t know actually. I think, you know, I’m not too unhappy about it. As vampires go, you know, I would have probably not given him any kind of accent. He’s got a slight Eastern European accent, just slight, which you may not hear if you're American but if you're English you do. I would have probably dispensed with that. But in terms of the look, I’m happy that he looks, in this one he looks pretty much… well I look more like Nosferatu than I ever did before. Not through any intent, I’m just getting older. But I look more like I looked in the first one than I did in the second one and I’m happy about that. It’s sleek and horrible, you know? So, you know, I think there's not a great deal that I would change, certainly not physically I don’t think."

Being that you're a fan of vampires and you play a vampire, how do you feel about the fact this film's told from the werewolves' perspective?

Bill Nighy: [Laughing] "Well obviously I’m not happy about that. No, it’s fine. It’s good. I mean there's plenty of… Wait till you see the movie, there's plenty of the vampires' point of view included and it’s a pretty balanced affair. Werewolves, you know, they were bound to [be] featured again. And the story is very satisfying in as much as that with Rhona [Mitra's] character, who’s now our new leading lady, and Michael together. I don’t know how much to tell you - you probably know what's happening - but it’s a pretty fairly balanced thing between the vampires and the werewolves."

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Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is rated R for bloody violence and some sexuality and hits theaters on January 23, 2009.