It’s hard to picture Law & Order: SVU without Ice-T’s Fin Tutuola, who has become one of the most beloved characters on a show that has a bevy of them. That’s why it’s mind-blowing to think that at one point Ice-T was only going to be on the show for a four-episode run, and that would end up turning into a 400-episode run that’s lasted 24 seasons. In a new interview with Variety, Ice-T explained how he ended up involved with the show and that he almost turned it down due to also running a record label at the time. Luckily he didn’t, and now the rest is history.
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Regarding working with Law & Order creator Dick Wolf, Ice-T said “I think that I am his longest-running employee.” It started when Ice-T was cast on Wolf’s New York Undercover, and after their next project didn’t last, Andre Hall contacted Ice-T about another project, to which Ice-T initially said no.
“I told Andre, ‘F*** you.’ I had just come off of ‘New Jack City’ in film, and didn’t need TV. Friendly though, like ‘Mother******, I don’t do television. I’m a movie star,’” he said with a laugh. “They gave me the whole ‘C’mon, you too big, now’ routine. So, I told Andre to give me a bad guy role and they found one in a character named Danny Up.” The previous show was titled Players, and Wolf was disappointed that the project didn’t take off.
“Dick Wolf said that he wished he would’ve had a stronger vehicle for me,” Ice-T said, and then the offer for SVU came up. “They wanted me to come out there and only do four episodes. At the time, I was trying to run a record label, so I was like, ‘Eh,’. Four episodes turned into 24 years,” Ice-T said. Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay have since become institutions on SVU, and Mariska has loved having the chance to work with him all these years.
“I can’t say this about a lot of people – not even myself! – but in the 24 years we’ve been working together, he’s never come to the set in a bad mood, and he’s never complained,” Hargitay said. “And he’s got some stiff competition, but he might just lead the pack in gratitude for the incredible gift of being able to do this show for all these years.”
“I took them to the side one day and told them. … ‘You gotta understand who I am. I used to rob banks in real life. If I’m robbing a bank, I don’t need to like you. I just need to know if you can get into a safe, control a room, scan the radio and drive. Once we rob a few banks together, we’ll become the best f****** friends. Ever.’ Now, Mariska and I have been robbing them banks for 24 years,” Ice-T said. “I always tell Mariska that I’ve got my life, wife and my daughter, but that I make more money with her, so Mariska’s got to know where she ranks in my life. Do not come f****** with Mariska.”
Hargitay remembers she was “intimidated” when Ice-T first joined the show since she knew him as an artist and trailblazer, but it didn’t take long for her to realize how special he was, describing him as “someone deeply true to his principles, kind, wise and just ridiculously generous.”
“I think what surprised me most was the gentleness,” Hargitay said. “He’s a wonderfully curious, principled, loyal, gentle spirit.”
You can catch a new episode of SVU tonight on NBC, which will air at 8 PM CST.
What do you want to see next for SVU? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things Law & Order with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
