Credit: Marvel StudiosIn a recent interview, Black Panther (2018) star Angela Bassett reflected on her infamous Academy Award loss and how well she thinks she handled it.
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The Black Panther films are some of the best in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, earning Marvel Studios’ first nomination for Best Picture at the Academy Awards and featuring the best ensemble in a Marvel film, which has included Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa), Michael B. Jordan (Killmonger), Letitia Wright (Shuri), Lupita N’Yongo (Nakia), and Danai Gurira (Okoye).
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) marked another first for the MCU, with Angela Bassett getting nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Queen Ramonda. Unfortunately, she lost to Jamie Lee Curtis for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), something that has stuck with her and her fans ever since.
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Star Angela Bassett “Gobsmacked” At Academy Awards Loss
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In a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, Bassett reflected on her career, what it means to her family, and receiving an Honorary Oscar for her career. This eventually led to a discussion about her Oscar loss in 2023, disappointing The Rosa Parks Story actress. That being said, she believes that’s a normal emotion to have.
“I was gobsmacked! I was. I thought I handled it very well. That was my intention, to handle it very well. It was, of course, a supreme disappointment, and disappointment is human. So I thought, yes, I was disappointed, and I handled it like a human being.”
This isn’t the first time the American Horror Story actress left the Oscars empty-handed. In 1994, Bassett was nominated for Best Actress for playing Tina Turner in What’s Love Got To Do With It (1993) alongside Laurence Fishburne. She lost to Holly Hunter in The Piano (1993). Still, the Malcolm X (1992) actress believes disappointment is normal.
“There are going to be these moments of disappointment that you’ll experience, but how do you handle yourself in the midst of them? We’re going to smile, we’re going to be gracious, we’re going to be kind, we’re going to party anyway.”
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More than anything, Bassett was grateful for the role and what it meant for Black women everywhere.
“Some of these places are secretive with the scripts, but [director Ryan Coogler] said, ‘Queen.’ For years I had been saying … when they ask what else you want to play, I’d say, ‘I want to play a queen.’ I manifested it, evidently. Because I hadn’t seen it. It’s not queen for me, it’s queen for us. We are queens. My mother, my auntie, you. We all are. So often Black women are considered at the low end of the totem. No!”
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