• Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
      • Hair News
      • Natural
      • Relaxed
      • Transitioning
      • Weave
      • 4C
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · Entertainment

Can You Believe Blair Underwood Almost Passed On ‘Set It Off’?

The seasoned actor admitted recently that he didn’t read the entire script.
Blair Underwood Almost Passed On ‘Set It Off’
Photo by D Stevens/New Line Cinema
By Taiia Smart Young · Updated December 6, 2020

The role of our favorite Harvard-educated bank manager—Keith Weston in Set it Off—almost went to someone other than Blair Underwood.

Underwood said on Sirius XM’s The Clay Cane Show that when the 1996 cult classic’s script landed in his lap, he was playing Jackie Robinson in HBO’s Soul of the Game, which he called “a noble project.”

After reading about 18 pages, including the scene where Stony (Jada Pinkett Smith) slept with Nate (Charles Robinson) to get her brother into college, Underwood initially passed on being in the drama. But when the team circled back to ask why he passed on the plum role, the 55-year-old actor admitted that he didn’t read the entire script.

“My manager read me the riot act when I told her,” Underwood told Cane. “She said, ‘Boy, you better finish reading the script before you be passing on things.’”

It was a lesson he would never forget. When Underwood took a beat to read the script, he saw Stony and Keith’s love story and the “platonic love story between these four women.”

Underwood, who’s currently starring in A Soldier’s Play alongside David Allen Grier on Broadway, also recalled that by the mid-’90s Blacks audiences were fatigued by certain movies.

Blair Underwood Almost Passed On ‘Set It Off’
Set It Off

“There was push back at Hollywood because Boyz ’n the Hood  had come out, Menace II Society and there were voices that didn’t want to see us only as gangster films. And people would dismiss us initially when we’re shooting the film [like], ‘Okay, now we’re going to do Girlz ’n the Hood’.”

But Underwood trusted director F. Gary Gray’s vision and the actors’ performances.

“I very much wanted to be a part of that, so I have fond memories,” he said.

According to Box Office Mojo, Set It Off’s budget was$9 million and grossed 42 million worldwide.

TOPICS:  alfre woodard blair underwood Danielle Young Juanita Netflix red carpet
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now