NYFF 2022: Interview With THE INSPECTION Writer And Director Elegance Bratton

In today’s climate, one of many universal struggles is the fight to be seen and to recognize the self. For Black queer filmmaker Elegance Bratton, he has come a long way. From being kicked out by his mother for being gay to being homeless for ten years to joining the Marines to graduating from Columbia University and NYU with degrees in African American studies and film directing, Bratton’s journey is an inspiring, soul-searching story that speaks to everybody who has ever felt undervalued and invisible.

The Inspection may be based on his personal experiences in boot camp, but Bratton uses his past as a foundation to explore inner strength, self-love, and the comradery of individuals defeating an oppressive system.

I first got to meet Bratton in Toronto, where the film first premiered. There, we started a brief conversation about the nuances of his feature debut that we both knew had to continue. The following is the continuation of that conversation, where we talked about the practical challenges he faced making the film, what it was like seeing his story told by the great Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union, and his reflections on where he is now on his journey as a Black queer filmmaker.

Kevin L. Lee for Film Inquiry: Hello! It’s so good to meet you again. We got to see each other in Toronto.

Elegance Bratton: That’s right, that’s right!

Been trying to get this interview set up so I’m glad this is finally happening!

Elegance Bratton: Thank you for making it happen! How have you been? How’s it going? How’s life?

I’m good! I’m good! Back in New York and busy. But I have been really looking forward to this conversation. And I said it to you before then, but I want to say it again: Congratulations on the film. It’s so beautiful, and I’m still thinking about it since I first saw it in Toronto.

Elegance Bratton: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for making time for me and the movie. Appreciate you.

So, I’d like to start by asking: what would you say was the most challenging part of the creative process?

Elegance Bratton: The creative process is challenging overall. [laughs]

[laughs]

Elegance Bratton: It’s hard to pick just one. Honestly, it was the time that we had, more than anything. The production was quite challenging because we shot in the summer in Mississippi, which was just… biblically hot. It was otherworldly. It was like we weren’t on the same planet that everyone else was on. And on top of that, we were shooting during the pandemic, so we got shut down. So we were initially promised, I think it was 23 days and, if we needed it, a couple days to do pickups. We got cut to 19 days.

Oh my gosh.

Elegance Bratton: So the whole movie that you saw was shot in 19 days.

Oh wow.

Elegance Bratton: Yeah. That was kind of, it was hectic. We were also shooting at a time when there were four other features shooting in that region simultaneously. So in terms of background talent, we couldn’t really book. I wrote, for instance, the graduation scene right? That scene where I graduated, there were supposed to be hundreds of people. It was basically a ticker-tape parade, you know? And we did not have all those people. So it was just a challenging production in that regard.

It felt like the Bible, it felt like, “You know what, Moses? Part the Red Sea, get through with the walk. Okay. Oh you think that’s easy? How about you cross the desert? Oh, you thought that was hard?” You know what I mean? It was pretty intense.

I really appreciate you giving an answer on the logistics of it. I understand all of the struggles that happen behind the camera and behind the scenes, so I really appreciate that. I figured one of the most exciting things for you on this project must have been getting to work with Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union, who are both incredible in this.

Elegance Bratton: Mhm.

But what was it like for you to be in that position where you as the director were able to now shape part of your own story through these talented artists?

Elegance Bratton: Well, it was a joy and a privilege and an honor to work with them both. For Jeremy, authenticity was really important to me for the character of Ellis French. It had to be an out Black queer actor. Just as a Black gay man growing up, my identity is like this Frankensteinian, cobbled-together assemblage of Lagerfeld and Warhol and RuPaul and Tupac, you know what I mean? All of these different people, Beyoncé choreography, you know all this stuff that I pick from, it’s that I see myself in the culture.

But Black queer people, we hardly ever get to be the heroes of the stories. So you’re forced to do that. And Jeremy and I would talk often about what this movie would’ve meant to us as teenagers, right? I think one out of two Black gay men are projected to be HIV positive in their lifetime, we’re eight times more likely to be homeless, eight times more likely to commit suicide, you know? So everybody’s facing Hell to become themselves, just like Ellis French faces Hell. But the beauty of this film is that he’s able to face great adversity and ultimately fight for self-acceptance, right? So having someone Black and queer in that position is really important to me. And then I lucked out because he’s an incredible actor as well.

So we had, I call it the Cate Blanchett test. Can you just sit in a room, no other actor, and just emote and we have a sense of what’s happened before and anticipate where you’re going next, and we’re compelled. And Jeremy’s got that in spades. He’s got the most expressive eyes and he is a true champion of me. He made space for my grief, he made space for my rage and he channeled it. Together, we created Ellis French. And that character’s very much a representation of our collaboration and our friendship and what we made together.

In terms of Gabby, that relationship’s another story. I had left Hawaii when I was a combat filmmaker, and I got a chance to be re-stationed in New York, when I had to be a military police officer, essentially like a guardian with a gate at the base or whatever. And my mother, being the troublemaker that she was, says to me, “Oh you think you’re a filmmaker now, huh? Mr. Big Shot. Why don’t you go buy a camera and come film your little sister’s elementary school graduation? Show me what you got.” And I went, bought a camera, bought a computer, and went to her graduation. And none of my sister’s classmates even knew she had her brother.

Oh my gosh.

Elegance Bratton: None of my mother’s colleagues, friends. My mother didn’t really have friends, or acquaintances, no one knew that she had a son, an elder son. And that really hurt me. And I resolved at that moment to become a filmmaker. Like “You are not going to be able to avoid me. And now I will be in the theater. I will be on TV. And somebody’s going to ask you if I’m your son.”

So Gabby was important because Gabby is a household name. I know for a fact that whatever my mother felt about my sexuality, somebody in her life was going to tap her on the shoulder and say, “Hey, I think Gabrielle Union is playing you in a movie.” And on top of that, she’s a true talent and an artist, right?

And she has this incredible ability to just… I threw a lot at Gabby. My mom passed right after we got greenlit. And I’m really grateful to Gabby for bringing my mother back to life. The jewelry she wears in the film is my mother’s jewelry. The Bible she uses, that was my mother’s Bible and even how she’s styled, right, is very much in that way. And Gabby and Jeremy made themselves vessels so that we can make a film that I think will help people bridge the Right and the Left. I hope it will cause a conversation that will make stories like mine less likely to happen.

That’s beautiful. One of the things I loved so much about your film, and you said it earlier, is space. You gave these people space, not just Ellis French, but many of the other recruits at that camp. You let them have scenes by themselves. You gave us this really, really intimate access to them in these quiet, vulnerable, but empowering moments.

And I found that to be contrasted with the rhetoric at that bootcamp and it reminded me of a lot of things. It reminded me of where we are currently in the country as people. 

Elegance Bratton: Mhm.

It also reminded me of something you said in Toronto when you were promoting the film where you mentioned something. You mentioned supporting our troops even if you don’t agree with foreign policy.

Elegance Bratton: Yes.

And I think there’s something so nuanced about that and I was wondering if you could speak a little bit more about that and what you hope audiences can take away from this film.

Elegance Bratton: This is the story. The Inspection is about a homeless gay man who will do anything to win back his mother’s love, even go into hostile territory, any adversity to win back his love, and who ultimately learns how to respect himself. So I made this movie for anybody who has ever felt undervalued, anybody who’s ever been told that you are not enough, that the future is not yours to possess. I made this movie to remind you of the power you have inside, that you can actually triumph over that adversity. And by being your authentic self, you can make change. This film is about radical defiant empathy. French as a character doesn’t give up on anybody. Nobody’s judged in this film. And I personally believe that it’s those dynamics between people that change institutions and not the other way around.

That being said, it’s just funny because I think my version of critique is not necessarily about waving my finger at anybody, right? Because I feel like right now we’re in a world where… when I came to the Marine Corps, I thought I was worthless because I was gay. My mother kicked me out for being gay, I spent 10 years homeless cause I was gay. I thought I had no value to the world. I thought whatever, right? What could happen to me could happen to me. And then I got to bootcamp and my drill instructor told me that I was valuable because I had the ability to protect the Marines to my left and to my right. And that made me important. And I took that and I ran with that and transformed my life with that, you know what I’m saying? And that’s what I’m trying to give audiences, to those people who’ve been told that you are worth nothing, you are worth everything because you can protect somebody.

Nonetheless, I empathize with people in desperate situations. I came to this lesson in the most desperate situation of my life. And ultimately it’s so easy to yell at people that you disagree with and to talk passionately with people who agree with you. It’s very difficult for us in this time globally, the Left and the Right, Black and white, gay and straight, trans and cis. Everybody is talking AT each other and no one is talking WITH each other.

I learned how to talk to people different from me in the Marine Corps. I have friends, my Marines, my buddies, who span the racial gambit. They span the political gambit. But at the end of the day, we are figuring out how to get to the middle because we understand that we have a responsibility to protect one another. Everybody has a responsibility to protect one another.

And point of fact, in terms of this kind of rhetoric and critique, there’s a critique throughout this film of the system. When French says in the trailer, “I could die on the streets, it doesn’t matter. I die in this uniform, I’m a hero.” These are facts. Because I know for a fact that if I had died before I joined the Marine Corps, it’s just another Black gay man gone. Not a story. I die in the Iraq War, it matters. That in and of itself being true is a critique.

Right, right.

Elegance Bratton: Right? Yes. The worst person amongst us is still a human being.

Yes. I want to end on this nice one at the end. If you could think back to the last day in your military service with the last day you said cut on set for The Inspection.

Elegance Bratton: Wow.

I was wondering if you could just describe the difference between these two moments and what they meant to you and just how you see yourself now at this part of your journey.

Elegance Bratton: Wow. You’re coming with heat, man! This is heat! [laughs]

[laughs]

Elegance Bratton: Wow! Oh man! My last day on set with my last day in the Marines. Wow. Wow. Okay. You mean on base though? Because my last day in the Marines was not eventful. I was already off for two weeks by the time it was over. So I smoked a lot of weed by that point. I ate a lot of fried food at that point. Things were looking normal. [laughs]

But my last day on base. Okay, wow, that’s interesting. Okay. So my last day on base on Hawaii was more like my last day in the Marine Corps, because it’s like what you’re imagining right? And I was very much traumatized with what I had been through to get to the Marine Corps. And I was not trying to get kicked out. So while I had lovers and stuff… you know… do what you got to do, I didn’t really flirt with Marines. I mean… ehh… I never acted on anything. I never felt compelled to act on anything. I had a hard time seeing what I would want to act on too. There were definitely men around, but they weren’t really my thing.

And then I’m checking out at a base and there’s this very pretty, cinnamon skin, I don’t know what, he’s probably Latino, Arab, Black, some kind of mix like that. But he was fine. And I was signing out and it was a very loaded signing out. We had a lot of eye glances, a lot of smiles, and then he’s like, “Where are you going next?” And I’m like, “I’m leaving for the mainland.” So the last day was a day where I’m like, “Well damn, maybe if I had not been so scared, I could have met this guy earlier and we could have had something.” So that was that, I remember that very well.

And then my last day on set… oh man… my last day on set was a really special day because we shot in Jersey City on the PATH train and the PATH train for me is where all of this really started – going on the PATH with my mom. My mom had me when I was very young. She was 16. So when she would get on the PATH, anything could happen. We might go out, hang out with her friends and I’m just like another kid. Or we’d go to the museum, go to the city and do free things together. So I was riding on a train I rode with my mom and that was really special.

And then I guess that day on set, we had lunch at this diner that, I don’t know, it just hit me, I had a memory and it was the same diner I went to with my mom, when I was maybe five years old. She was in her early twenties.

Wow.

Elegance Bratton: And I remembered that day on set we went there and I didn’t even remember what I ordered until I was eating it and it was a deluxe cheeseburger and some fries. And then I cut it in half and I remember, “Oh my God. Oh my God.” I remember us working, my mom worked so hard to have a little bit of extra money to go to this diner to cut a meal in half and share it with me.

Oh my gosh, uh huh.

Elegance Bratton: And now I’m in this diner with my whole crew and it’s like 50 people and I’m buying everybody’s lunch.

Yeah, yeah.

Elegance Bratton: You know?

That’s amazing.

Elegance Bratton: I felt so proud of that moment. And I felt so happy for my mom. I get nervous sometimes because I hope people are getting the humanity that Gabby has put on screen in this character, because… it’s never all bad. It’s just that sometimes people forget you can be defined by the good. So that was a really special moment for me that I got to have that memory and to be in that diner. It was really great. It was really great.

Well, Mr. Elegance Bratton, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.

Elegance Bratton: Thank you.

And I hope we meet each other again and speak again.

Elegance Bratton: I think we will! I think we will! I’m sure you’re around!

I’m around, yes!

Elegance Bratton: All right, man. Be good!

Film Inquiry would like to thank Elegance Bratton for taking the time to speak with us!

The Inspection premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2022. It screened at the New York Film Festival on October 14, 2022 and is scheduled to be released in theaters in the US on November 18, 2022.