In ‘The Inspection,’ Elegance Bratton Tells a Heartfelt Story about Being Gay in the Marines – Them
And, man. Oh, man, oh, man. When I got him on set, I saw what he could do on camera. Whoo! It was a real joy to have Jeremy there. And I think ultimately, this is about the authenticity of representation for me as well. Beyond Jeremy’s incredible, obvious, undeniable talent, Jeremy’s an out queer Black actor, which itself is a form of activism.
Growing up, we don’t get to be the heroes of movies, you’re often the accessory to the league, quite literally the handbag, snapping and doing all the things that make the lead that much more interesting, but never the focus of the story. We’re living in a world where things are quite dangerous for for Black gay men. One out of two of us will be HIV-positive in our lifetime. We’re apparently, eight times more likely to commit suicide, and more likely to be homeless. And I think that lack of representation is a part of the reason why a lot of young gay Black men feel like they don’t need to exist, they don’t belong here, and no one wants them here. And they’re so willy-nilly with the value of their own lives.
Jeremy would talk often about what it would have meant to us as teenagers to have a character like French. So this is really about trying to shrink the calculus that people have to do in the future. You can pop this movie on, and you can see someone who is a Black queer hero. But this movie is going to remind you of the power you have to triumph over adversity so that you can get to the other side.
After a career-making year on Broadway, the actor is set to make his television debut on Ryan Murphy’s “Hollywood.” We asked Janet Mock, his director on the show, to interview him about how he got here.
Now that you told your story, now that you’re here, now that you’re now on display, what would you like to do next? What type of genres would you like to explore as a filmmaker?
I’m really into horror lately. I’d love to do some monster horror stuff. I think it’s a wonderful way of doing metaphor. I’m into sci-fi, as well. I grew up watching popcorn movies, family films like Spielberg movies, and Scorsese movies. I want to have a career like Martin Scorsese, where I can do serious things, dark things, and original things, but then I can also do broad-facing audience things.
I think every director, whoever is holding the camera, is telling their own story. And while this film broke down my life experience, I’m excited to see how my life experience relates to different genres and all sorts of different tentpole types of movies. And also, I still want to do these movies and I still want to make docs. I want to make enough movies so that I can have a Turner Movie Classics retrospective of my own.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
The Inspection premieres in limited theaters November 18.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.