Actress, entrepreneur, producer and best-selling author Gabrielle Union revealed “Bring It On” cheer squad, the Clovers, were only included in a third of the film, yet they were the most talented group.
The classic film emerged in the fall of 2000. While the trailer showed the film’s premise, it left some scenes from the trailer out of the actual movie.
For example, the trailer promised to show Black love in the film after it included a clip of a Black high school couple kissing, but that part wasn’t seen.
The trailer displayed Isis, played by Union, laughing with her squad while walking away from lockers, but viewers never saw how the Clovers were as students in high school like the trailer promised.
“The Clovers were only in a third of the movie,” Union disclosed to Noah Callahan-Bever on Bloomberg’s original series, Idea Generation. “When they started showing it to test audiences, the Clovers tested through the roof, and they’re like, ‘We need more with Clovers, but we can’t add it to the movie.'”
According to Union, the scenes with the Black couple and Isis laughing with the Clovers were fake and intended for the trailer only.
“We’re gonna shoot fake scenes that will only be in the trailer to create the illusion that it was like a 50/50 movie,” the Breaking In actress shared. “What’s interesting is the people spoke. When the people spoke, they were like, ‘Okay, we gotta deliver…at least fake deliver and the rest was kind of history.”
Despite not having as many scenes, Union appreciates how her character and the other Clovers were portrayed as “badass, young, Black girls who refuse to take and never back down.”
The Ten Things I Hate About You actress also achieved a Black Reel award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Isis.
