Blair Underwood Shares Why He Almost Passed on “Set It Off ”Ahead of Film's 30th Anniversary

Angela AndaloroWed, February 25, 2026 at 6:24 PM UTC

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Blair Underwood in "Set It Off"Credit: New Line Cinema/Getty -

Blair Underwood played Keith Weston in 1996's Set It Off

Ahead of the film's 30th anniversary, Underwood admits he almost passed on the role amid larger conversations happening about the types of roles available to Black actors

The heist film centered on Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise

Blair Underwood was caught by surprise by an upcoming anniversary of one of his biggest film's.

During his appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show, Hudson told Underwood that the 1996 heist, Set It Off, turns 30 this year. The film was first released in Nov. 1996 and was both a critical and box office hit, grossing over $41 million against a budget of $9 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

"Man, I just remember that film blew up. I almost didn't do it, but I'm glad I did," he shared.

Giving more context to why he was unsure about the film, Underwood explained, "At the time, Boyz in the Hood was out, Menace II Society. There was a lot of conversation in Hollywood about, 'Why does Hollywood allow us to do only gang-banging and hurting each other and shooting each other?'"

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The film followed Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise as a group of friends who decide to rob a bank to make money for themselves and their families after years of struggling.

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"And then this script was running around town," he continued, noting it was being panned by some as "Girlz in the Hood."

"But it turned out to be so much deeper and so much better than that, and I'm honored to be a part of that."

Queen Latifah, Kimberly Elise, Vivica Fox and Jada Pinkett sitting on the roof in a scene from the film 'Set It Off', 1996Credit: New Line Cinema/Getty

While co-hosting Entertainment Tonight in 2020, Fox looked back at her time on the film and celebrated how she and her costars "made history together."

"I am so proud of the director, F. Gary Gray, who... really was a stickler for making the storyline believable," Fox said. "He was so professional, he was just ... we were throwing out pages, and rewriting it and making things work because he didn't want us to be laughed at."

She added: "People literally walked out of the theater from Set It Off in tears and moved and went back to see it again."

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”