Karl Urban Talks Priest, Star Trek 2

I have to say, Karl Urban really proved himself as an actor for me with Star Trek, making the role of Bones come to life with both humor and personality - a leap ahead of the gruff, uber-masculine killer he'd played in past roles. So, I was pleased when he was announced as the villain in the upcoming adaptation of the vampire-Western comic-book series Priest.

Urban recently sat down with Coming Soon to discuss his role as Black Hat, the former priest turned vampire.

"The fun thing about villains is that they get to do and say those things that we can never do in real life. I love that," says Urban. "The thing about that character was that he was a former priest and his job was to hunt down vampires. He was captured and turned into one and found himself on the other side. I guess it's kind of a do or die situation...There was an emotional complexity about it in terms of the fact that I felt betrayed by Paul Bettany's character for having let me go or letting him let me be captured or not killed me. There's sort of interesting layers that you can sort of infuse and the depth of that rage and anger and longing and lust even of wanting Paul Bettany's character the Priest to come and join me so together as brothers they can exterminate humanity."

Asked about the recent resurgence of the vampire genre, Urban said, "I think it's kind of sexy. It's definitely post-True Blood and Twilight, it's really interesting how that whole genre has taken off. I think there's something taboo about it and that's always very attractive and forbidden and sexual. I think that's a great hook for people. You always want what you can't have."

Lastly, a quick question about what's in store for Bones in the Star Trek sequel brought about an equally quick response: "I have no idea. I just know it's going to be good. I'm really looking forward to getting on board that one and I feel now we've introduced all these great characters. It's going to be really interesting to see where we can take it...I think it will start to shoot at the beginning of next year."

http://www.ugo.com/movies/karl-urban-talks-priest-star-trek-2