When it comes to playing the character, stage and screen actor Shuler Hensley knows what Frankenstein's monster is capable of: in addition to his wide range of emotions and immense physicality, the creature can sing and dance, too.

That's because Hensley, who will star as the creature in writer-director Stephen Sommers' monster blockbuster "Van Helsing," opening May 7, has actually played the character on film once before.

In October 2001, he teamed with some of his Broadway colleagues for the independent feature "Frankenstein: The Musical," a production he said was inspired by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's creature feature-turned-stage extravaganza "Phantom of the Opera."

And while Hensley assured me in a recent @ The Movies interview that there won't be any singing and dancing by the monster in "Van Helsing" -- ala Peter Boyle in "Young Frankenstein" -- we can expect the complexity of character featured in the musical. In addition to having the brawn, the monster is going to, of course, have some brains. This difference this time around is that he's going to use them, too.

"In previous films, he's obviously been not as articulate and more of a monster -- but in the book, he's basically a human being, but made of many parts," Hensley explained. "The musical dealt with that end of it -- and then along came Stephen Sommers and (his producing partner) Bob Ducsay with the same idea of him for the film. I think the Frankenstein monster is really unique in that it's much more in the style of the book in terms of his articulation and his mind. That was exciting to me."

That's not to say that Sommers and Hensley are going to completely abandon the foundation established by Universal Studios' original monster, Boris Karloff, makeup maestro Jack Pierce and director James Whale. Also a product of Universal, the look of "Van Helsing's" Frankenstein monster has some of the original film's iconic physical features -- and the tragic quality of the character displayed in "Frankenstein" and "The Bride of Frankenstein" is there, too.

"I think that's crucial to this character," Hensley told me. "There's a huge side of that revealed. As an actor, I tend to play villains and monsters pretty much because of my size, voice quality and look, so I think it always makes it more interesting to have a human side and quality within those characters that has that in it. It is there from the get-go."

Starring Hensley's longtime friend Hugh Jackman in the title role, "Van Helsing" follows the plight of the famed vampire hunter in his quest to find his archenemy Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) in 19th century Eastern Europe.

But complicating matters is the presence of two other classic monsters: the Wolfman (Will Kemp) and Hensley's Frankenstein monster. The film also stars Kate Beckinsale as Van Helsing's counterpart Anna Valerious; David Wenham (Faramir from "The Lord of the Rings") as a friar who escorts them; Josie Maran, Elena Anaya and Silvia Colloca as Dracula's brides, and Kevin J. O'Connor -- who played the love-to-hate character Beni in Sommers' first "Mummy" movie -- as Igor.

Oh, What A Beautiful Day
Oddly enough, "Frankenstein: The Musical" had nothing to do with the casting of Hensley in "Van Helsing." Rather, it was his compelling Tony Award-winning performance in the Broadway revival of "Oklahoma!" that caught Sommers' eye.

"Bob Ducsay and I were in New York visiting Hugh at the time, when we went to see 'Oklahoma!' on Broadway," Sommers recalled for me in a separate interview. "Afterwards, we thought, 'Man, the guy who played Jud Fry was spectacular. The character is so rich -- so sad and lonely and you feel so bad for him -- but at the same time you think, man they better kill him before he goes off the deep end.'"

The funny thing is, Sommers said, is that the impact of Hensley's performance and how he could infuse that energy into the monster for "Van Helsing" didn't hit him right away.

"We're a little slow sometimes," Sommers said, laughing. "Here it was, one of the best performances on Broadway we had ever seen and we didn't think about going to him. About a month later, we were back in New York casting for Frankenstein's monster and he walked in. We were like, 'Of course!'"

Like "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns," the director said the characters and storylines that we've come to know and love in "Van Helsing" would be taken to a whole new level. Complimenting the breadth of characters will be an arsenal of eye-popping visuals and action sequences.

Because he did a lot of blue screen work for visual effects purposes, Hensley is just as excited as fans are to see what the final cut will look like. So far, he loves what he's seen.

"I got to do some looping two weeks ago so I've seen a bit of what they've put together -- it sent chills," Hensley told me. "To just see snippets of what it is going to look like was beyond exciting."

Next Week: A preview interview with Sommers on creating the man and the monsters of "Van Helsing." Coming in May, Hensley talks more about his role in the film and his longtime friendship with Jackman. Also, look for complete interactive coverage of the film, including more interviews, movie clips, trivia and a "Van Helsing" contest from Sideshow Collectibles.

More Info:
Official 'Van Helsing' Movie Web Site
Official Shuler Hensley Web Site