Kate Beckinsale’s Best Movie Scenes
Though Kate Beckinsale can most recently be seen stealing the show in Charlie Day’s directorial debut, Fool’s Paradise, the actress has long held her position in Hollywood as a leading woman. She has worked as an actress, model, and philanthropist, working closely with the British Heart Foundation to provide cardiovascular research and heart health medicine to those in need. Here are a few of her best film scenes, ranked.
5. Love & Friendship
Kate Beckinsale shines in Love & Friendship, a 2016 period comedy-drama which follows a scheming matchmaker in the 1790s. Beckinsale stars as Lady Susan Vernon, a cunning and manipulative matchmaker who charms her clients with her flamboyant wit, much to the chagrin of their families.
In one particular scene, Beckinsale effortlessly manipulates the family of young Reginald de Courcey, played by Twilight‘s Xavier Samuel. Lady Susan Vernon’s razor sharp wit and masterful skill in the art of misdirection allows her to win over her most staunch critics, forcing the family to accept her services.
Love & Friendship brought in a massive box office windfall for the studio, wrapping up in theaters with a gross of over $19 million worldwide against an incredibly modest budget of only $3 million, cementing Kate Beckinsale as a leading woman in a comedy film. This may have even paved the way for her excellent performance in Fool’s Paradise.
4. Van Helsing
2004’s Van Helsing stars X-Men and Deadpool 3 star Hugh Jackman, as the famed monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, alongside Kate Beckinsale’s Anna Valerious. Anna Valerious is a Romani princess who is also locked in an endless battle with the paranormal, crossing her fate with Helsing’s.
The pair team up against the combined forces of classic horror monsters such as Dracula and Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, in order to protect Valerious’ family from a centuries old curse.
In the final battle against Dracula, Kate Beckinsale flexes her incredible action skills by engaging in a well choreographed fight against the iconic vampire, in a thrilling sequence which displays her physical prowess and determination against all odds.
The film serves as an action fantasy epic, which allowed Beckinsale to put her skills as a certified ass-kicker on full display, following her performance in Underworld from the previous year. Van Helsing is still frequently referenced to this day as an iconic monster-hunting classic.
3. The Aviator
This Martin Scorsese classic follows Leonardo DiCaprio as a successful aviation tycoon turned Hollywood director, Howard Hughes, as he works to craft major motion pictures as well as an airline empire.
DiCaprio takes many lovers, including real-life Hollywood royalty such as Katharine Hepburn and Ava Gardner, as portrayed in the film by Cate Blanchett and Kate Beckinsale, respectively. Though Hughes continues to be a massive success in his multiple endeavors, he soon becomes mired with stress and anxieties.
The Aviator allows Kate Beckinsale to occupy the skin of a real Hollywood leading woman who paved the way for actresses such as herself, offering an interesting and nuanced look into the world of early American cinema throughout the 1920s-1940s.
In one scene in particular, Beckinsale’s Gardner confronts DiCaprio’s Hughes about the nature of their relationship, as well as the state of Hughe’s seemingly crumbling empire. The incredibly emotional exchange displays a great dramatic range from Beckinsale, in a powerful and moving performance that does the true Ava Gardner justice.
2. Serendipity
In this 2001 romantic comedy, John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale star as Jonathan and Sara, a pair of love interests whose clashing worldviews threaten the fabric of their relationship. Jonathan’s believes love at first sight draws him to Sara, while Sara bows to destiny to control her fate.
After 10 years and 3,000 miles of distance, the pair must ultimately decide if their love is built to last, creating an incredible romantic journey for the ages.
In Serendipity‘s best scene, John Cusack finds himself wandering onto an ice skating rink, all but having given up on love. While laying down in the snow, a chance encounter with Kate Beckinsale seems to seal the deal for them both, unequivocally proving that destiny has chosen them to bring their love story to light.
The pair go ice skating, which serves as the beginning of a beautiful relationship. The film then flashes forward to show that the pair go back to this location every year on their anniversary.
1. Underworld
Underworld serves as Kate Beckinsale’s breakout role, and one of her best. The film adapts a series of dark fantasy novels written by Len Wiseman, Levin Grevioux, and Danny McBride, into an action horror romp that remains a cult classic to this day. The franchise has spanned 5 feature length films.
In the first Underworld film, which premiered in 2003, Kate Beckinsale stars as an orphaned vampire, trained to kill the mythical creatures known as Lycans at all costs.
When the Lycans attempt to kidnap a mortal doctor, Selene must step up and battle an army of the creatures in order to stop them. Selene’s opening scene, displaying her awakening and training her killing routine, is one of the most gripping sequences in the film, earning the top placement in our list.
