Silly Little Country

The Kate Beckinsale Mystery

I am watching the Jay Leno show awaiting Kinky Friedman's appearance. His first guest is Kate Beckinsale, who has been at the heart of one of the great mysteries of my life. As in all cases where I have seen her, here she stands out as attractive at the highest level. And yet, though my brain knows she is extremely attractive, nothing else in me responds to her all - in contrast, say, to Miranda Otto, or Lena Olin, just to name a couple of instances of actresses who can involve me totally when they are on screen.
What is even more interesting to me from this appearance is that she is clearly extremely bright, and disarmingly funny (talking about the pet rabbit that had to be evicted from the home because of its unnatural sexual connection to her husband). Or saying the 'vampire werewolf' movie she is in is based on her family back home. She seems wonderful. But this enjoyment of her presence on the show remains pretty abstract and I don't understand why.
But wow! She is clearly bright and gorgeous.
But now I shall go try to find a Helen Mirren movie.

UPDATE: Beckinsale describes her film costume as 'a latex condom with sleeves'.

On my flight down to Texas I recall reading Geoff Pevere's review (Toronto Star link - watch out for its evaporation!) of the film she is promoting.

Her phrase explains to a degree this excerpt:

While I must admit I had no idea what Kate Beckinsale's character was doing in Underworld: Evolution, holy smokin' mother of mercy did I love watching her work.It was the leather. Playing Selene, a whoop-ass vampire warrior in a centuries-old rumble between bloodsuckers and werewolves, the profoundly comely (and gifted!) Beckinsale wears a form-fitting leather ensemble so optically pleasing it single-handedly made any confusion or misgivings I had about Underworld: Evolution — which is an almost incomprehensibly overplotted sequel to 2003's Underworld, a movie I now feel duty-bound to see — dissolve like so much vampire flesh at high noon on a Cuban beach.

UPDATE2: Friedman is for prayers in the school and for gay marriage ("they have every right to be as miserable as the rest of us"). Beckinsale is quick - Friedman reviews his slogans, and she responds to "How Hard Could it Be", with the quip, "Something that is on my mind a lot", or the like. Hmmm. She deserves re-evaluation.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 12:06 AM