Interview with "Ugly Betty"’s David Blue

AE: So the role was for someone who wasn’t super thin like Marc?
DB: Yeah.

AE: You happen to be straight. Was there any concern for you or your management with you taking the role of Cliff?
DB: I can’t speak for them. I’m pretty sure they agree with me, but no, not at all. I think, maybe I’m naïve in this way, but love is love. This is a great character. It’s a great interaction between these characters.

It doesn’t matter if it’s two men, two women, a guy and a woman. It’s a romantic relationship and on top of that it’s an interesting romantic relationship. I would rather play this role than a straight man who is not nearly as interesting. Actually I think I embraced it a little bit more, and it was a little more harrowing as well because I felt a little more pressure to live up to what this character should be. So if anything it was actually more of a challenge and I guess more scary to make sure that I got it right.

AE: It sounds like it was a complete non-issue for you.
DB: It’s not like I haven’t played any of these roles before. I’ve done everything from straight men in theater to gay men in theater to questionable men. It doesn’t matter. They were just roles, they were parts.

Ugly Betty has been so good about breaking the rules. It’s great that these writers, who I think a lot of them come from Will & Grace, which of course really broke ground, now are on Ugly Betty where you have, a relationship between two men like Marc and Cliff. You can have a transsexual character, like Rebecca Romijn, and then you have Justin who is growing up and learning what his interests are in general and I think it’s great that you can do that and they’re not getting a lot of flack like, “Oh my God. How can you show this on TV?”

People are watching and they’re serious and they want to see how these characters develop and that’s great. And to be one of those characters, let alone to be there helping the character that everyone in America loves, add more depth and to show more of? I couldn’t ask for more.

AE: What happens in the fourth episode in which you appear?
DB: Essentially it’s just us as a normal couple. The first time you’re actually able to see us doing normal things. The past few episodes have been us fighting or else getting back together, and it’s nice to actually see the two of them just being together.

AE: So going on dates or hanging out at home?
DB: Exactly.

AE: I think Cliff is probably the closest to what accurately describes the majority of gay men as opposed to your super-fit, athletic guy that you tend to see on something like Dante’s Cove, a show you might not even be aware of.
DB: A good friend of mine is on The Lair, Brian Nolan. We went to college together in Orlando. He was actually at my house for the airing of my first episode when I had friends together to watch it, so actually yeah, I am aware of Dante’s Cove.

A lot of things attracted me to the role [of Cliff]. First of all, he’s not stereotypical in any way, and I like that. And then secondly, even just reading the sides from the first audition, I saw that this character had a depth to him. And on top of everything else, I think my favorite part was in the end of that first episode, where Marc kind of disses him for another guy. I really enjoyed the fact that instead of just leaving with his tail between his legs, Cliff actually stood up for himself and was like, “Wait a minute, not only should you not be doing this to me, but I’m a catch.” And I love that because I hope people will be able to relate to that.