"Black Panther" Rescues Angela Bassett From "AHS"
Tuesday, November 22, 2016 at 8:30AM Chris here. Fellow bemoaners of how Angela Bassett is being wasted on the likes of American Horror Story bemoan no more. The actress has joined the cast of Marvel's Black Panther as Ramonda, the mother of Black Panther himself. It's fitting that our queen will finally play a queen again.
It may not be the kind of heavy lifting we'd really love to see Bassett working with (though she was part of the brilliant Chi-Raq ensemble), AHS has proven that the actress can still have a good time. And with an already exciting cast, it'll be a thrill to see her alongside the likes of Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, and her Waiting to Exhale director Forest Whitaker. Fingers crossed her superpowers will include setting cars and our hearts on fire just like Exhale's Bernadine.
Can you believe Angela Bassett only has one Oscar nomination to her name?? It's been over 20 years since channeling Tina Turner for What's Love Got to Do With It? and she hasn't returned to the awards fray. It's about time someone gives her another brilliant role and an "overdue" narrative to go with it.
Reader Comments (12)
I do think she had a brilliant supporting role in Chi-Raq (that scene in the front yard...) but that was about as far from an "Oscar" movie as one could imagine. I'd love to see her return to top-tier movie work with this as she's one of my favorites.
Bassett isn't the one. I remember thinking her beauty matched her talent. On closer inspection 93 through 95 was her golden period in the movies. Four movies including Vampire in Brooklyn offers her strongest work in film. She has very little nuance or restraint to what she does these days. She and Sam Jackson had a Broadway stint for the play The Mountaintop. Neither garnered prizes which I thought doing live theater work would trigger both parties to bring it. Each one has shown promise in the past. Now they coast on legacy giving the type of performances which makes you curious why they were ever a thing.
She was phenomenal in and amongst the silliness of AHS: Coven but every season since has utterly wasted her. And she was wonderful to watch in Chi-Raq. I highly doubt Marvel is going to give her anything interesting to do, but it's always a joy to see her.
I would have liked to see Angela tackle some of those Viola type roles.
I channelled Bernadine once when my first b/f left me,I didn't use fire on his car just an old dirty mop and his steak dinner,it sure felt great.
I'd love to see her in full villain mode, maybe as the unassuming matriarch of an all-female crime family, maybe three generations of deadly women, who turns out to be more than meets the eye.
I would have liked to see Angela tackle some of those Viola type roles.
But she's not the Viola Davis type.
Why?
How are they similar? One has authentic intensity. The other flails.
She had nothing to do in Roanoke, the season that gave us Paulson's worst performance ever.
I actually really liked her work in AHS: COVEN
I don't agree.