From director Gail Lerner and co-written by Kenya Barris & Jenifer Rice-Genzuk Henry, the family comedy Cheaper by the Dozen follows the Bakers, a blended family made up of one mom, one dad, nine kids, two dogs (cleverly named Bark Obama and Joe Biten), one cousin, and two exes, who are just trying to get it all done and hold it all together, albeit in a louder and more hectic way. Zoey (Gabrielle Union) and Paul (Zach Braff), who also own a local eatery that serves round-the-clock breakfast, have a lot going on, but they seem to always manage to stare down the challenges and celebrate the successes.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Union (who is also an executive producer on the film) talked about why this story is so relatable, needing a break from the chaos of life, keeping the mayhem from going too far on set, what made her break during a scene, how awesome it is to have been a part of some iconic teen classic movies, and what she’s looking to continue doing with her production company.

Collider: Cheaper by the Dozen started as a semi-autobiographical novel that was published in 1948. The first movie adaptation was in 1950, and it’s had a few movies and sequels since then. There are movies that can’t or shouldn’t be updated or remade, and yet somehow, this one keeps working. Why do you think it is that this story can continue to be updated and modernized and work is an entertaining movie, no matter the decade?

GABRIELLE UNION: Because literally every human being on this planet is born into some sort of family. Whether you like that family, or you try to run away from them, we all have family, in some way, shape or form – our chosen family, our blood family, the family that we create that’s a combo of each. Families are everywhere. They are global. They are universal. Everyone can relate, in some way, shape or form. But rarely are blended families, co-parents, multiracial families, multicultural families, families with different levels of ability, celebrated or represented on TV. We usually hold up non-traditional families for shame, or to other. In this remake or re-imagining, this is how people have been doing it for centuries. We’ve just never been celebrated or recognized, and it’s about time. So, let us show you all the joys challenges, frustrations and celebrations that come with having a large blended family, and it still works.

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Image via Disney+

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Life and family inevitably has chaos. Are you someone who embraces the chaos, or do you sometimes need a time out from the chaos?

UNION: In real life, I need a lot of breaks. I’m one of those people who find silence so joyous and rewarding. I long for silence, at most times. Obviously, at home, I’m not getting it that often. And certainly, when I come to set with 10 kids, two dogs, four adults, there’s not a lot. Trying to figure out how to maintain my sanity at home in chaos and at work in chaos usually comes down to efficiency. If we’re able to figure out how to be more efficient with everything that we do, at home and certainly on set, we can figure out a way to have a little bit more organized chaos, so you can anticipate when it’s gonna get a little bit more hectic, at different points in the day. That’s tolerable.

You don’t have to have all the chaos, all at once, in every moment of this movie, but during those times that there was the mom, the dad, the exes, the nine kids, the two dogs and a cousin, what was that like? How did you even get through a scene with all of that, at one time?

UNION: When we were not on set, when we were milling around and they’d call us to set, and everyone was slowly getting up and taking their places, we might joke and laugh and whatnot. But when we hit our marks and we are on set, I had to lead from the top. Also, as a parent, you can’t get kids all riled up and be joking around with them, and then expect them to be super professional. They’re still kids. So, you have to make sure that they’re focused, make sure their bodies are settled, and make sure their minds are focused. It’s probably a reason why you don’t do standardized testing after gym or recess. You’ve gotta settle in.

I try to gently remind kids that, even though they’re kids and we’ve been doing it a long time, sometimes we all forget what it is to be a professional. All of these hundreds of people that are all working together, no one person is more important than the other. We have to all do our jobs well, so that everyone is able to make a living and make it home to their own families and spend time with their own kids. That makes me the bad cop, and Zach [Braff] got to be fun uncle, but that’s how we had to balance it out to make sure we got everything done.

When you have those moments of insanity, do you ever have a moment where you break? Did you ever just crack up during a scene, or are you good with holding it together?

UNION: I was pretty good with the kids. When we had the adult scenes, if you will, like the scene at the pool with me and the other moms, those are some of the best comedic actresses in Hollywood. I cracked up. Most of our ad-libs were not Disney-friendly. On those days, I couldn’t stop myself. I would laugh until I cried. I had so much fun on those days. But with the kids, you have to keep it together a little bit, so that it doesn’t just spread like poison ivy. I t can just go, and then it’s hard to get it back together.

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Image via Disney+

Now I’m dying to see all of those alternative jokes.

UNION: We’ll air those on Hulu.

I became very aware of you when you did She’s All That and 10 Things I Hate About You, seemingly back to back, and then you did Bring It On, and I still watch those movies. Are you surprised that those movies, in particular, hold a special place in people’s hearts, so many years after they were released?

UNION: Yeah. As actors, it’s always like, “Oh, I’m broke, I’m broke, I’m broke. I’m unemployed. Oh, I have a job.” And then, you’re like, “Oh, I’m broke, I’m broke, I’m broke. I’m unemployed. Oh, there’s another job.” You’re just looking at them, and I certainly was, at that time, as the next gig that allowed me to pay my bills. You’re not really thinking, “Oh this is gonna have legs or be this iconic movie that people reference, 20 plus years later.” It’s like, “Oh, I don’t have to shop at the 99 Cent Store and buy day-old meat. I can go to Ralphs.” That’s what it represented to me, at the time. But it’s awesome to know that I’m a part of these iconic teen classics. That’s pretty cool.

You formed your production company, I’ll Have Another, in 2018 with the goal of telling stories that center marginalized communities with their specific points of view in an authentic manner. How do you feel you’ve already succeeded in that mission, and what would you still like to be able to do, to take that even further?

UNION: We have so much further to go. It’s even just the content creators we go after. A lot of folks might have been the it-girl or the it-guy 20 years ago, had a hit, and then fell off, and people think their talent suddenly evaporated. I’m going after those people. There’s a point where someone was like, “Would you be interested in taking a meeting with Walter Mosley?” I was like, “Are you kidding me?! Yes! That should have been meeting one.” We still try to pull people in – people who’ve never had a shot, or people who got put out to pasture prematurely – and we try to center those writers in the middle of their own narratives that they’re creating.

We’ve had some success, but we want more. L.A.’s Finest came out, and they’d never had a two-hander with a Black woman and a Latinx woman, creating a family-friendly production that allowed breastfeeding mothers to still breastfeed, and then go kick butt. That had never happened before, in history. We have Cheaper by the Dozen, this remake of this amazing blended family, in every way and shape you can think of. And then, we have The Perfect Find coming out, about an older woman and younger man, and we don’t get to see that with Black folks very often. So, all the things that we have coming up, they all center marginalized, voices, creatives, storylines and casts, and I would have it no other way.

Cheaper by the Dozen is available to stream at Disney+.