Blair Underwood on Why he Initially Turned Down "Sex and the City"

[JamesG]

Blair Underwood on Why he Initially Turned Down "Sex and the City" Role:
by Armando Tinoco
July 24, 2024


Blair Underwood reflected on his career and recalled his first offer to guest star on "Sex and the City", which he ultimately turned down.

In a new interview, the "Longlegs" actor opened up about the role he was asked to portray in the HBO series.




“The first time they had offered the role, to be honest with you, it was about how Samantha was fascinated by dating a Black man and wanted to know if, uh, all of the rumors were true about our anatomy!” Underwood said in an interview with AV Club.

“And I said, ‘Listen, I’m honored, thank you, but I just don’t want to play a character based on race, on curiosity about a Black man.'”




He also added that he had “never watched” the show before he was approached and he asked, “Well, is it gonna be about race? And they said, ‘No, no, no, we’re not even gonna mention race!'”

“And I think it really did only come up maybe once. I did five episodes, and I think Samantha mentioned it once, saying something about ‘a Black doctor’ that Miranda was dating,” Underwood said. “And that’s really been a consistent thing in my career: not wanting to be boxed as ‘the Black guy.’ I’ve had that conversation with many producers along the way, and they were so great. They said, ‘No, he’s just a doctor who Miranda meets in the elevator, and they have a nice little fling.’ And it was amazing.”




Underwood noted that “Cynthia Nixon could not have been sweeter,” recalling that when he was cast in the role, she and the cast called him and said, “‘We just wanted to call you and tell you that we heard you got cast, we’re all so excited you’re joining the show, and we just wanted to say welcome to the show when you get here.’ She’s just such a sweetheart, and she’s always been that type of person.”

https://deadline.com/2024/07/blair-u...le-1236020805/