Gabrielle Union stars alongside Zach Braff in a reimagined and updated version of the film, Cheaper By the Dozen. which features a large blended family, 2 dogs. Union plays the heart of the family Zoey Baker, who has the patience of a saint while juggling 10 kids, 2 dogs, and a pair of exes, along with her work life.
Union spoke with Screen Rant about updating the classic film and giving it a fresh take with more relevant themes that resonate with modern families.
Screen Rant: Gabrielle, amazing job on this film. I'm a huge Cheaper by the Dozen fan. This is a fantastic reimagining of Cheaper by the Dozen, and Zoey might be the most patient person on earth and is really the heart of the Baker family. Can you talk to me about what you wanted to bring to the role of Zoey that wasn't necessarily on the page, and just a little bit about Zoey herself?
Gabrielle Union: I wanted to make sure that we understood that she is a beautiful, amazing, accomplished black woman that wasn't running away from blackness, she ran towards love, which is a big distinction in my eyes. I wanted her to be her full black self, which is why there are probably 87 hair changes, but I wanted to really showcase the textures, and how we as black women love our hair, and that it's a daily part of our life and our identity. I wanted her to be more patient than I am in real life, and for her to handle adversity in perhaps a different way than the world has seen me address things. Some say she might have more grace than I, but it's just how to get from A to Z in two different ways, but they're both real, valid, and amazing.
There are so many relevant themes throughout the course of this movie. Even that security guard thing, that's something I have had to deal with. These relevant themes that deal with real family issues that are missing from previous iterations of Cheaper by the Dozen, can you talk to me about how this version addresses some of those themes?
Gabrielle Union: I think in the previous iterations, it's a completely homogeneous family. There's no diversity, so what are the issues? Yeah, you know what I mean? It's like it's more about just the sheer size and different personalities, but when you really lean into the blended family, blended racially, culturally, different levels of ability, and then you move that family to what you think is better and the best, and you very quickly realize that trying to navigate predominantly white spaces as a person of color and as a mom of color, that perhaps someone else's idea of best and better isn't really what's best for your family's safety, and sanity, and peace. That's something that was really important for us to explore.
One thing this film also touches on which we don't see in all of the other iterations of this film is co-parenting. This is something that's completely addressed, and I love the way that it's done. Can you talk to me about your character's relationship with Paul's ex, Kate, played hilariously by Erika Christensen
Gabrielle Union: When we first started casting the movie, the only person I actually knew in real life for a long time was Erika Christensen. We both kind of came up with the teen movies and whatnot, so she's just game. She's just game for whatever, and we just played and ad-libbed, and had a ball and found it. But I have been married previously, my husband has been married previously, so co-parenting is an actual part of our day-to-day lives, and it can be done well, and it can be done not so well. And we wanted to show that when there is a point when there are two Mrs. Bakers, which is a real thing, like at my own house, my parents got divorced after almost 30 years, and someone was like, "Oh, Mrs. Union," and both Mrs. Unions turned, I was like, "Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh." But those moments happen, and sometimes there are boundary issues that spring up, and we play that for laughs, but also for those watching at home, if you too have some boundary issues, pull it together. Pull it together.
Cheaper by the Dozen is currently streaming on Disney+.