Kate Beckinsale Back In Action For 'Underworld: Blood Wars'

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – In "Underworld: Blood Wars," the newest installment of the blockbuster franchise, vampire death-dealer Selene, played by Kate Beckinsale, is fighting the brutal attacks from the Lycan Clan and the vampire faction that betrayed her.

Retuning for the fourth time as the heroine of these action films, Beckinsale is happy to be back in action.

"I honestly think it's the last original action thriller movie series that doesn't have a book behind it. It's also cool that it has a female lead who's strong, ethical and has a bad temper as well," said Beckinsale.

This time it's revealed Selene has a daughter and she's threatened by her dangerous enemies.

CBS4's Lisa Petrillo asked her if she thinks that "mama bear" instinct gave the film a new sense of excitement.

"It's sort of the whole point of movie for me," she said, "that agony of not knowing if your child is going to be OK. It's so intense."

"So you are a petite, beautiful woman and you kick butt in this movie!" joked Petrillo.  "Let's talk about the physicality of this role for you with the guns and with the actually martial arts scenes."

"Thank you!" said Kate. "The guns came natural to me, weirdly enough, but there is a lot of training. It's a lot, like learning a difficult dance except you might get your face punched in if you do it wrong."

The British born actress' rise to fame came in 2001, when she starred opposite Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett in the Academy Award-wining film "Pearl Harbor." The same year she shared the screen with John Cusack in the beloved romantic comedy "Serendipity."

But, for this film, Beckinsale says, it's all about escaping to another world.

"I think it's fun. It's total escapism and I think we need escapism at the moment with mythical monsters rather than the real monsters," she said.