In the Toronto International Film Festival premiere “The Inspection,” Gabrielle Union plays Inez French, a woman who cruelly rejects and kicks out her gay son Ellis (Jeremy Pope), forcing him to enlist in the army. The role stands in large contrast to Union’s own public persona, as the actor has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights.
“Going back to the beginning — to try and find a way in to a very complicated woman — ‘what do we have in common?’ When I would assume, ‘not a damn thing,’” Union said about her process playing the part at the Variety Studio, presented by King’s Hawaiian at TIFF. “When you are constantly chasing worthiness you will lose yourself, and everything is on the table and you don’t always make the best decisions. That was the commonality. It didn’t manifest itself in my life from rejecting my children, but it’s manifested in other ways, so we had that in common.”
Union was joined in the Variety Studio by Pope and director Elegance Bratton. During the conversation, Union, who is the stepmother to trans teen Zaya Wade through her marriage to Dwyane Wade, spoke about how the film has caused her to reexamine how she can better support her child and advocate for the LGBTQ community.
“We wrapped a long time ago, but the work and the healing and the discovering who we are through character is still ongoing,” Union said. “Conversations I had last night after the film with my husband, just reexamining what more we can do, not only in our household, but how can we shift how we reach people? And I’m still finding it.”
When asked how she hopes this film will advance parents’ conversations about LGBTQ issues with their kids, she said the film reflects a common phenomenon she sees where parents only accept their children when they’re essentially identical versions of themselves — something that “The Inspection” pushes against.
“A lot of parents think, ‘If my children aren’t mini versions of me then they won’t be safe, they won’t be deemed worthy’ … Hopefully through this film people will see themselves, and it might not be the parts of themselves that they are proud of or that they like,” Union said. “Do the research into learning who your kids are and being okay with they don’t have to be little mini versions of you. The twinning thing is only cute on Instagram.”
“The Inspection” premiered Sept. 8 at Toronto Film Festival. A24 will release the film on Nov. 18.
