Jessica Biel
Jessica Biel
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Blade: Trinity
Blade: Trinity
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Monday, April 25, 2005

BLADE: TRINITY'S JESSICA BIEL

For a role that originally didn't exist -- and then one she originally turned down -- playing Abigail Whistler proved to be a perfect part for Jessica Biel.

A former star of The WB's television series Seventh Heaven, Biel continued to make waves in the world of movies with her action turn in Blade: Trinity, which reaches DVD on Tuesday.

Biel joined Ryan Reynolds (as Hannibal King) as the Nightstalkers injected new blood into the seven-year-old Blade franchise earlier this year. The role gave Biel tons of publicity, from talk shows to an MTV diary special, and clearly raised her profile in Hollywood.

And it almost didn't happen.

The Abigail character didn't originally exist in the plans that writer/director David Goyer had for Blade: Trinity. For the third movie in the Blade franchise, Goyer got the rights to Hannibal King and Frank Drake as his Nightstalkers. He then changed Frank Drake to a female named Frankie Drake before changing that to Abigail, who is the previously unmentioned daughter of Kris Kristofferson's Whistler.

Biel was reticent to take the role, wary of working on the third movie in a well-established franchise. But after reading the script and meeting with Goyer and the producers, she changed her mind and took on the role of Blade's ally in his fight against Dracula, who has returned after a long absence.

"It's great that Blade has joined forces with other people who are on his team, who are helping and who are of almost the same caliber he is," Biel said. "And I thought that was really interesting.

"And I liked that we were dealing with the Dracula. It wasn't just another vampire. It was the number one vampire who started it all.

"What I liked about my character was that she was Whistler's daughter, which made her just super cool. Whistler taught Blade everything he knows, so she comes from a really tough background."

Goyer said Biel brought "an amazing intensity" to the role, becoming "like a female action figure come to life."

"Her character is a woman of very few words," he said. "So she has to imbue that character with a lot of physicality and a lot of presence. It's something that's very difficult to do and she does it very well. She completely owns the scenes that she's in and she gives Wesley (Snipes, Blade star) a run for his money."

"Jessical Biel is a perfect human being," producer Peter Frankfurt said. "She's complete gorgeous. She is funny as hell. She's a gifted actress and athlete, totally dedicated. She is fabulous in the fight scenes."

Becoming an action star meant serious training and a strict diet for nearly six months.

"We worked really hard," Biel said. "We trained every day with an incredible martial artist, all kinds of martial arts, for about a month before we started shooting and then almost every day throughout the shooting."

On the DVD, you'll notice that Biel's physique is buffer in her extended fight scene at the end than it was in the first scene she shot, where she, Blade and Hannibal King are grilling a vampire familiar for information on a rooftop.

"I loved my shoulders," Biel said.

Biel's training also included an hour of archery every day ­ and she became very efficient.

"Near the end of the shoot, we wanted her to fire an arrow and fire it right at the camera," Goyer said. "Jessica is suspended in a safety harness about eight feet off the floor in this glass enclosure. And she's got to shoot down toward the camera. We had all this safety-plex, and the only thing that was exposed was just this tiny two-inch square directly in front of the camera lens.

"First take, the arrow goes straight down at the lens of the camera and destroys a $350,000 camera. The New Line representative was horrified, and I was like, 'Yesssss!'"

(See the above three images from the DVD of Biel's shot and reaction).

Biel and Reynolds both did nearly all of their own stunts in their first action outings. Generally speaking, the only stunts they didn't do involved broken glass.

"Luckily, no one got seriously injured," Biel said. "We were black and blue all the time, bruised knees and bruised shins. They were all minor injuries, but nothing big, thank God.

"Abigail's strong and smart. I loved her because she's equal with the guys. She can kick ass -- a vampire-killing machine. I kind of think of her as the leader the Nightstalkers."

Biel's big fight at the end was actually filmed over the course of a day in one-take shots, although the scene was edited and split up with Blade and Hannibal fights in the final version of the film.

"I basically whupped 13 guys' ass," she said. "It was awesome and fun, and I didn't use a stunt double."

"She has the natural ability you don't come across very often," said fight choreographer Chuck Jeffries. "I have worked with professional stunt people who are not able to learn the moves as quickly as she has done."

In addition to the fights, Abigail had several character moments.

"Abigail's in the place where Blade was in the first movie," Goyer said. "She's just emotionally shut down and all she cares about is killing. She doesn't have time for a boyfriend. She just wants to kill, kill, kill -- that's where she's at."

One scene that proved controversial was when a shaken Abigail, taking a shower after a mission.

But Biel said she didn't feel the scene was gratuitous ­ she was never actually nude nor did she reveal any private areas ­ and helped show what Abigail was going through.

Biel also revealed that during the emotional scenes, she would often build up to the moment and then nod for Goyer to begin filming, without any shouts of action.

Blade: Trinity did so-so at the box office, drawing in a franchise-low $52.4 million, and it seems unlikely there will be a fourth Blade film or a Nightstalkers spin-off, especially with Snipes' recent lawsuit against New Line and the filmmakers.

However, the Blade franchise has always excelled in the DVD market, so it's not impossible Abigail will return. In fact, an extended ending on the DVD -- which was not in the theatrical version -- has King and Whistler hunting down a werewolf in a casino, a clear set-up for a sequel.

"I had a blast," Biel said. "I'm contracted to do another, so we'll have to see."



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