On the surface, it was difficult for Gabrielle Union to relate to hercharacter The Inspection.
Inez French is a corrections officer who kicked her son (Jeremy Pope) out ofthe house when he was a teenager for being gay. (The drama is based on thetrue-life story of its writer-director, Elegance Bratton, who attempted to winhis mother’s love back by enlisting in the Marines.)
Union herself is an outspoken advocate of LGBTQ+ rights, steadfastlysupporting her stepdaughter Zaya (whom she helped raise with husband DwayneWade), who came out as transgender in 2020.
“Initially, I was like, ‘I live differently. What have I ever given off tomake anyone think that I could pull this off convincingly?,’” Union told us ina virtual interview where she was joined by Bratton and Pope.
Ultimately Union found a link to Inez through some reflection on her self-image and identity.
“I had to find the common ground with her. And that common ground is all ofthe things that we are willing to do in order to be seen, in order to movethat much further ahead for a check, for a relationship, for acceptance,validation for white supremacy. What are we willing to gamble with? And forme, I didn’t gamble with my children, but I’ve gambled with all sorts ofthings.
“I mean to not make light of it, but I gambled with my upper lip. For manyyears I would literally smile [while hiding my lip]. Because I thought if Ilet my full lip be seen, then they would know I was Black. … As illogical andsilly and stupid as that is, I tried to minimize my Blackness. I tried toconstantly be shapeshifting that dual consciousness. I had multiplepersonalities. I was trying to constantly change who I was, depending on theroom, if I thought it was gonna get me this far ahead. All the things that youdo for a man, all the things that you do for Jesus, all the things that you dofor whoever you think that is going to deem you worthy, deem you good enough,deem you worthy of all the opportunities in life, riches, you’ll do anything.You will barter with anything. And for some of us that’s children. And for me,it was my soul many times. So when I realized that common ground, it’s dark.It’s just very dark and disturbing.”
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Gabrielle Union in ‘The Inspection’ (A24 Films)
Union, 50, started her career with roles in popular but predominantly whiteteen comedies She ‘s All That (1999), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)and Bring It On (2000). She also played a love interest to both Ross (DavidSchwimmer) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) in a 2001 episode of Friends.
In the years to come, though, the actress began landing more prominent partsin films with largely Black casts. Those included The Brothers (2001) withMorris Chestnut and Bill Bellamy; Deliver Us from Eve (2003) opposite LLCool J; Bad Boys II (2003) starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence; and_Breakin ‘ All the Rules_ (2004) alongside Jamie Foxx.
Prominent credits in more recent years include Think Like a Man (2012), TopFive (2014), The Birth of a Nation (2016), break-in (2018) and the BETseries Being Mary Jane (2014-19).
Now, Union is drawing early awards buzz for her punishing role in TheInspection which could mark a career-best performance.
“I think hurt people hurt people, and healed people have the ability to helpheal other people,” Union says of the film’s messages. “You just have to wantto do different and wanna love differently and you have to know that you’rereally losing nothing in loving completely.”