Gabrielle Union Opens Up About Playing A Homophobic Character

Actress Gabrielle Union faced some challenges in making her upcoming movie "The Inspection".

Speaking at the People and Entertainment Weekly photo and video studio at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival about the film, Union explained her difficult decision to play a character she didn't relate to.

"As an actress, I normally look for characters that have some chunk of me in them. I did not see that in Inez," she says of her character, Inez French.

The character, a homophobic prison guard, can't come to terms with the fact that her son Ellis French (Jeremy Pope) is gay because of her strong religious background. She ultimately disowns him, setting him on a path to join the Marines.

Asked if "The Inspection" was difficult for her to participate in as a parent to a transgender daughter (Zaya, 15), Union said she was first drawn to the overall "beautiful story."

Ultimately she found that "my darkness defined the common space with Inez, which is a very vulnerable place, to know that I too am capable".

"It's not going to manifest itself in the same way, but when you are centering an oppressor's idea of who you need to be to be considered worthy of all of the things, everybody is on the chopping block."