Blair Underwood Talks LONGLEGS, Horror, and Working with Osgood Perkins

Blair Underwood in LONGLEGS | Photo Courtesy of NEON

By Shannon McGrew

In Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat's Daughter) latest film, LONGLEGS, an FBI agent in pursuit of a serial killer uncovers a series of occult clues that she must solve to end his terrifying killing spree.

For the release of LONGLEGS, Creepy Kingdom's Shannon McGrew spoke with actor Blair Underwood (Bad Hair, Deep Impact), who plays Agent Carter, an FBI veteran working with Agent Lee Harker. During their chat, they discussed everything from what attracted him to the role to collaborating with Osgood Perkins and more.

Thank you so much for speaking with me today, Blair. To start things off, what attracted you to the role of Agent Carter?

Blair Underwood: What attracted me to the role was it looked like something that we've seen before, or maybe I've done before, but it turns out to be not everything you believe it is, which really holds true for the movie itself, and so much within the movie.

How was it working closely with director Osgood Perkins? Did he provide you with any research to help you better understand your character?

Blair Underwood: Working with Oz is incredible. He's one of my favorite directors I've worked with. He also wrote the film, so he really had all the answers. There wasn't a lot of research I had to do regarding procedure and all of that. It really is the character that he put on the page. What wasn't on the page I could ask him, and he'd fill in all the blanks, which he did. Oz is very laid back, easygoing, and open to all of us as collaborators.

Agent Carter seems to play a mentor-like role to Maika Monroe's Agent Lee Harker. How was it working with Maika Monroe for the first time?

Blair Underwood: Maika is fantastic. I've never really done a horror film quite like this. I want to do a lot more, actually, because I'm a horror movie fan. Maika has done a few of them; we talked about them once. She said the thing with horror is she finds herself always tired, always exhausted, usually running, dirty, screaming; it's very physically taxing. But she was up for it. We also have a very similar approach to the work. She's very easygoing, very chill, laid back. She knows what she has to do when Oz calls "action." She's there 200%, and when we cut, it ain't that deep. We're not curing cancer; we have fun while we're doing it.

Most fans of Osgood Perkins have an inkling of what to expect from him going into this movie. However, what are you looking forward to most when it comes to horror fans seeing this movie?

Blair Underwood: This is still a very different movie than what Oz does. Stylistically, some similarities, but still very different. We wanted to make sure the horror fan base embraced the film, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see the response from that fan base. It's got to start there. You have to take care of and love those who love you. For the people who don't necessarily tune into horror all the time, we have stuff for them, too.

LONGLEGS arrives in theaters July 12, 2024.