Gabrielle Union still has a few secrets about “Bring It On.” On Saturday, the actress revealed that Universal Pictures intentionally tricked fans into thinking she and her other Black co-stars had larger stories in the film.
In a video posted to her TikTok, Union spliced together portions of the original trailer for the cheerleading film, specifically depicting scenes with her character, Isis, and the other East Compton Clovers. But, as “Bring It On” fans will notice pretty quickly, those scenes aren’t actually from the movie. And according to Union, that was very deliberate.
“Story time! So we shot these snippets that you see here after the movie wrapped,” Union revealed. “Because once test audiences saw the movie, they wanted more of the Clovers. So we shot these, only for the trailer, not for the movie, to make people think we were in the movie more than we were. The end.”
A rep from NBCUniversal didn’t immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
You can watch Union’s video here and below.
For reference, here is the “Bring It On” trailer in full, as uploaded by Universal Pictures All-Access in 2011.
The scenes largely show the Clovers — the cheerleading team that the Kirsten Dunst-led Toros stole cheers from for years — at their own school, going through their day-to-day relationships, coming up with the cheers that would get stolen and training for Nationals.
In one scene, one of the Clovers asks, “Do you think a white girl came up with those moves?” A similar line was in the film, but said by Union’s character. The actual line ended up being, “I know you didn’t think a white girl made that s— up.”
Though Union has admitted in the past that the original “Bring It On” script was “cringey” and her character was written “like a bad stereotype,” the actress has largely praised the movie and noted that she was able to have a lot of input in changing that original depiction.