Gabrielle and Jessica are perfect partners in new US police drama
Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba talk to Georgia Humphreys about Bad Boys TV spin-off LA’S Finest
AAfter Bad Boys 2, Gabrielle Union felt her character, Syd Burnett, deserved a second chance.
The 2003 comedy action sequel, from renowned producer Jerry Bruckheimer, followed Miami Police Detective Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and his partner, Mike Lowrey (Will Smith).
Syd – Marcus’s little sister and Mike Lowrey’s lover – had a job at the Drug Enforcement Administration that she “clearly had to be capable enough to get, but then magically she can’t save herself, and her brother and her lover have to come save her,” says Union, jokingly rolling her eyes.
So, for the Nebraska-born star, 46, new Universal spin-off series LA’S Finest was the chance to explore more about her character – plus this time, she gets to do the saving. “Can Syd be capable?” the bubbly actress, also known for teen films She’s All That, 10 Things I Hate About You and Bring It On, asks.
“Can she actually use her brain and her brawn in the same way that the guys can? I look at this first season as a superhero origin story, and she deserved that.”
In the new show, Syd works as a detective, skirting the rules and taking on the most dangerous criminals in Los Angeles, alongside her partner Nancy Mckenna, played by Californian Jessica Alba, 38 – famous for film Sin City and TV series Dark Angel.
Here, the dynamic duo tell us everything else we need to know.
Gabrielle: We last saw Syd in Bad Boys 2, kissing Mike Lowrey on the beach all those years ago, but now she’s in LA. We have no idea how she went from the DEA to LAPD; it’s a mystery which we will slowly unravel throughout the series. She’s really mysterious, to the point where her colleagues are constantly placing bets on what her real story is. But she’s super-capable, she’s got a sense of humour, she’s sexually fluid...
Jessica: Nancy is a new stepmum to a teenager and she is a bit more by-the-book and disciplined, where Syd interprets the law as she will on the day, in the moment. We don’t always see eye to eye, but it’s cool to see two people who have values and morals, but are approaching their morality differently.
Gabrielle: We wanted it [the story] to be earlier in the partnership because, as they’re discovering it, the audience is discovering it as well.
Jessica: That just allows for so much play. If we knew everything about each other, if we’ve been working together for years, it’s like ‘same old, same old’ a little bit. It was fun that we got to pull at each other and reveal things about each other as we are going along in the series.
Gabrielle: That was just a non-starter. When everyone was like, ‘Who should it be?’, the only person that everyone agreed on was Jessica Alba. It’s a matter of, ‘Can you get Jessica Alba?’ So that was the only question mark. Gabrielle: Jess [who is married to film producer Cash Warren] had just given birth, and she wanted to make sure that our production was going to be supportive of active parenting. Jessica was one of the first people that we [Gabrielle and husband, former professional basketball player Dwayne Wade] told we were trying to have a baby via a surrogate – having so many stops and starts and so many heartaches, you don’t really share that with everyone.
Once the show got picked up and we went into production, it was like, ‘I guess I should tell the others because then we can plan for it’, and then when my baby girl arrived, we had planned for a set amount of maternity leave. And when that happens, everything falls on Jess.
“Ilookatthisaslikea superhero origin”
Gabrielle: We have to be able to be truly there as women and as co-workers for each other, and not look at maternity leave as, ‘Someone’s getting to stay home while everyone else has to pick up the slack’. It’s, ‘No, we are all going through things in life and these things should be celebrated and we just pick each other up’.
That’s what real teamwork is, that’s what a real partnership is.
● LA’S Finest premieres on Universal tomorrow