We sat down with Grevioux to talk about his success, the percieved lack of Black sci-fi writers and the importance of Spike Lee.

BET.com: How did you come up with "Underworld?"
Kevin Grevioux: I came up with it on my own. But I have to tip my hat to Len Wiseman. He's the guy who brought me in. He originally just wanted to do a werewolf movie. But he wasn't sure if it was a good idea since there really haven't been too many werewolf movies that were very good, except for "American Werewolf in London" and possibly "The Howling," but that was 20 years ago. So I said, look, "I know this is going to sound silly, but go with me on this. Take it seriously. What if we did a surreal interracial love story, instead of Romeo and Juliet you have werewolves on one side and vampires on the other. I tear that from a page from my own life.

BET.com: How so?
Grevioux: In terms of being Black and being involved in interracial relationships, you're always gonna have that thing, "What if we have kids?" or "What happens to the biracial child that's the union of our two races?" That person is human too. You know, it's really a type of allegory on race relations in America, just using vampires and werewolves. It's really a race war that shows how stupid it all is -- this Black vs. White stuff. That's how I came up with the idea and how I wrote the original screenplay back in April of 2000.

BET.com: When you wrote the story, did you have any preferences on the race of the characters.
Grevioux: Not really. Although I did have this one line in the original script where one of the Lycans says, "Using the word 'werewolf' is like using the word 'nigger' around here. We don't call ourselves that; we call ourselves 'Lycans.'" I guess the Lycans were always kind of Black and the Vampires were always White. But it was never where the vampires were right and the werewolves were wrong.

Really, I have to tip my hat to Danny McBride, because I didn't want to take it too far. Talking about race is always dicey. He actually suggested "why don't we take it further. Why don't we have the werewolves having been the vampire's slaves way back when?" I said, "OK."

BET.com: Is Danny Black?
Grevioux: No. I was the only brother there.

BET.com: If the film had been cast with all Asians or Blacks do you think the movie would have worked. Do you think studios would have bought it?
Grevioux: No, the studios want to be all-inclusive. But there's a point where you have to be careful. You don't want to color the film one race or the other. You don't want to be overbearing in what your trying to illustrate because that will turn some people off. So you try to use subtext to tell the story. We wanted to be all-inclusive. You don't want to be so on the nose, either.

BET.com: You think the racial allegory would have been too overstated if the Lycans were literally Black?
Grevioux: Well, yes. It's too obvious. That's bad storytelling because you're forcing the audience to think a certain way visually. When all you have to do is mention it allegorically speaking and the audience will get it. And since they will get through their own thought process, it will be much more subtle and they can make their conclusions themselves.

BET.com: There's a scene in the film where your character is getting whipped. As a Black man, I thought it was odd to see a Black character getting whipped in a modern movie. Of course you later bite that guys head off. Was that scene intentionally made for Black folks?
Grevioux: No, that was completely unintentional. But I'm glad people saw that. I mean, it's like, "First you make us slaves way back when, now you wanna whip me 600 hundred years later. I don't think so." I didn't go that far. A lot of that stuff had to be subtle.

BET.com: Fantasy has become a big genre, especially with "Lord Of The Rings" and "Harry Potter." Do you think we're going to see something that's more inclusive?
Grevioux: Given that we live in a global economy, chances are you're always going to have your Black and Latinos in movies. "2 Fast 2 Furious," basically invited everybody to the table, Black, Latin, Asian, White. If movies want to be successful and appeal to everyone, they have to have some of those elements. You look at Blade, I guarantee you that 20 years ago that movie wouldn't have been made. But you have Wesley Snipes's ability and the fact hat it was so cool, everyone goes with it. You're not going to have that much of a problem.

But I have to look at it in terms of commerce. I have a lot of stories and ideas. But they have to be marketable. I would love to do something like that (all-Black fantasy).

BET.com: Do you see things changing in the industry?
Grevioux: That is a tough call. I do see a whole lot of progress. I don't think anyone is making a concerted effort to keep brothers out. I mean, look at the Wachowski brothers, with Laurence Fishburne and the Matrix. They originally approached Will Smith to play Neo, so you're always gonna have people like that who say, "Brothers, come to the table. Drink. Eat. Be Merry." There are other young producers and directors who will do the same. Same thing with Len Wiseman, he said come on board.

Are we there yet? I don't think so, but it could be around the corner.

BET.com: What about this idea that says Black folks aren't into science fiction and fantasy?
Grevioux: Most people, Black and White, just don't think we're interested in this type of stuff. And that's just not true. A lot of the brothers I grew up with like comic books, "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters," but we don't necessarily have the permission to do that type of stuff. Not from our parents, because they don't understand that kind of stuff. I had a good friend who wanted to be a comic book artist. His parents were academicians. They said, "Not with my money, you're not." My parents love me to no end, but they graduated from Harvard, and they didn't understand me reading comic books until now. It was a different era back then.

It's kind of hard to think about going to Mars or sailing through the event horizons of black holes when you have a hard time eating on Earth. You know what I'm saying? There are so many social problems on this planet that its hard to think of a fantasy when the sky, literally, is not the limit. Our fantasies usually involve just making it in this society. You're worried about how you're going to feed your family. A lot of that is on us. Most of it is on us. Our people have become so myopic. We don't realize that dreams can be had. Not because we don't know people who have been successful, but because we limit ourselves way too much. Being Black is not about having limits; it's about recognizing possibilities.

BET.com: How do you think we can change that?
Grevioux: Actually, and I know this is going to sound like a plug for him, but I think Spike Lee did a lot in that respect. Not only did he usher in this new generation of filmmakers -- both Black and White -- but he demystified film. Before him, getting into the film industry was like getting into Ft. Knox. This young cat comes along with $100 grand and makes "She's Gotta Have it." He comes in second place in Cannes -- and he was Black! Brothers thought, "I didn't even know I could get into stuff like that." And White folks thought, "Well, if he can do it, so can I." He has talent. He is phenomenal. It has nothing to do with color. Getting into the film industry is not brain surgery, you just have to put your foot forward and do it.