Oz Perkins’ Longlegs is on our subscriber cover and on everyone’s lips this week. Longlegs star Blair Underwood spent nearly a decade portraying attorney Jonathan Rollins on NBC’s legal drama L.A.Law as well as a role in American Crime Story. That puts him slightly adjacent to a police procedural-type element like we find in Longlegs. But Underwood’s straight-up horror credits are pretty much limited to Justin Simien’s Bad Hair. Which is surprising, because during this interview, we found out Blair Underwood is actually a huge horror fan!
In fact, after doing Longlegs he said he told his agents he wants to do “a horror film every year.” Blair, we’d be happy to see your name in any upcoming horror movie casting announcements! In the meantime, check out our Longlegs interview with Blair Underwood.
You spent many years on L.A. Law, you’ve played a no-nonsense type in crime procedurals, but not necessarily against a backdrop like this. Oz is so great at creating a very specific note and tone in his movies. It’s strange, but it’s grounded. How much of that strangeness came across in the script? Did it feel like a straight police procedural, or was that strange tone already conveyed on the page?
That’s a great question. That strange, odd tone was already conveyed on the page from the beginning, every step of the way. And, of course, you’re stopping and starting; you do it over weeks and months, but 90 minutes of taking this ride in the theater is a whole different experience. But it’s what I felt when I sat for an hour or so and read the script.
It’s what I love about Oz, who directed and also wrote the script, that procedural element in terms of trying to talk about what this serial killer is, played by Nicolas Cage. But also, the elements in the world he creates are pretty incredible and terrifying.
Is the strangeness what drew you to it?
Absolutely. I mean, like you said, I haven’t really done a horror film like this. To take elements of different films, which Oz is very open about. Silence of the Lambs, of course, and a number of films. He wanted to bring certain elements of that and put it all together to create something original. I think he very much did that, but that is definitely what drew me to this film.
I’m not disturbed by very many things. Literally, my job is to watch these. But there was a mounting sense of dread, and I felt anxious. I was uncomfortable, kind of squirming in my seat.
I love to hear that because I’m a horror fan, also. I know this is my interview, but I’d love to hear more from you. I’d love to hear why people respond the way they do to this film. I have to tell you, I’m pleasantly surprised. I think Oz has even said he is a little surprised at how people are responding to it.
You pull something together like a film, and you never know if it will resonate with people. But I love that there is that mounting sense of dread and then what I’m hearing a lot is not only as you’re watching it, but when the film is over. It’s hard to just shake it and let it go. It keeps you thinking and feeling and feeling anxious and “why do I feel anxious about that?”
Right, absolutely. It’s one of those I like to call “let it marinate.” I’m processing.
Yeah, absolutely.
I want to see you in more horror movies. You’re a fan, you’ve done some horror, but I want to see you in more horror movies.
I’ve told my agents I want to do a horror film every year.
Every year. We’re here for it.
I’m down for it. But you know what, real quick, I see some horror movies behind you there and there are so many that I’ve seen along the way. My favorites are The Exorcist, and Rosemary’s Baby. It’s really the earlier ones. In Rosemary’s Baby, you don’t even see the baby.
It’s what you don’t see, and it stays with you. I think Longlegs does the same kind of thing where it just stays with you. I think in newer films, you can just dismiss it. There’s a distance between special effects. Scream I love because there’s comedy in there. But anyway, we can talk for hours.
Rosemary’s Baby is a great one, and it has the same kind of effect. It’s still one of my scariest movies. But it builds that dread in you, and it just sits; it lives in you. You see that movie, and it lives in you forever.
Right. Exactly.
Longlegs has a stickiness to it that’s left many moviegoers marinating over the feelings inspired by the movie in the darkness of the theater long after those (backward) credits rolled. As always, fear is a very personal thing, and the folks this struck a chord with, well it resonated deeply enough for ongoing exploration of the many possible interpretations.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Watch our full video interview with Blair Underwood below.
Longlegs is now in theaters and in the latest issue of FANGORIA (on newsstands right now). Read more in our interview with Oz Perkins and Maika Monroe.
