Jeremy Pope as Ellis French,
“MY NAME IS Elegance, so most people know that I’m Black and gay before I walk into any room,” Elegance Bratton tells Empire. The filmmaker mined those parts of his identity, and how they shaped his experience as a young Marine-in-training, for his debut feature, The Inspection. It follows Bratton’s onscreen alias Ellis French (Jeremy Pope), who, in a bid to win back the love of his mother Inez (Gabrielle Union), enlists in the Marines, only to be tormented for his sexuality.