Angela Bassett Rewatches ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It,’ ‘Black Panther’ & More for Vanity Fair

Angela Bassett Revisits the Roles That Still Burn Bright

Angela Bassett has a résumé most actors would happily borrow for a lifetime, and Vanity Fair handed her the remote to revisit some of the performances that helped build it.

From Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to Bernadine setting that car ablaze in Waiting to Exhale, Marie Laveau in American Horror Story: Coven, Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with It, Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X, Reva Devereaux in Boyz n the Hood and Athena Grant on 9-1-1, Bassett does more than rewatch the hits. She breaks down the work, the nerves, the improvisation and the people behind some of thee moments that made her career legendary.

More from INYIM: Tina Turner Surprised Angela Bassett on the Set of What’s Love Got to Do With It

Queen Ramonda Still Carries Enormous Pride

Watching Queen Ramonda again brings Bassett right back to the scale and atmosphere of Wakanda. She recalls the hundreds of extras, the regalia, the spontaneous drumming between takes and the care that went into something as specific as how a queen should physically carry herself in the throne room.

Her now-famous monologue — the one built around Ramonda’s grief, family and everything she has sacrificed — still hits Bassett emotionally. She says the challenge was allowing all of that feeling to rise while still containing it enough for the audience to connect. It is a sharp little glimpse into why even Bassett’s biggest performances never feel like they are simply about volume.

Bernadine’s Fire Was Very Real — and Very Hot

Then there is Bernadine in Waiting to Exhale, one of those scenes that has escaped the movie itself and become permanent pop-culture language. Bassett laughs while remembering the fire, admitting she was trying to look cool while standing near something that was actually scorching.

She also traces some of Bernadine’s attitude directly back to her mother, Betty Bassett, including the “little red wagon” energy she carried into the scene. The car-burning sequence, she says, felt cathartic precisely because it was something she would never have the nerve to do in real life. Movie magic, yes. Therapy by lighter fluid, apparently also yes.

Images: Vanity Fair / YouTube.

Tina Turner Gave Her More Than Permission

The richest section comes when Bassett reaches What’s Love Got to Do with It. Rather than approaching Tina Turner as an untouchable icon, Bassett says she first had to think about what the two women had in common: Turner was a country girl from Nutbush, Tennessee; Bassett came from St. Petersburg, Florida; both had dreams of making it beyond where they started.

Turner was also deeply involved in helping Bassett find the character. Bassett remembers Turner coming into her trailer during the final week of shooting, sending everyone else out and doing her makeup herself in about ten minutes. Turner brought clothing from her own storage, shopped for pieces she thought would work and checked in on Bassett emotionally because, as Bassett understood, this was not simply entertainment for Turner — it was her life.

Bassett still describes the film as the most difficult work she had attempted emotionally, physically and spiritually. But the memory she keeps returning to is Turner giving her confidence, assuring her she was “perfect” and helping her believe she could carry the role.

Marie Laveau, Betty Shabazz and the Weight of Real Women

Her approach to Marie Laveau was different but just as rooted in place. While filming American Horror Story: Coven in New Orleans, Bassett absorbed local stories about Laveau, visited St. Ann Street and thought about the historical woman as a protector of her community rather than reducing her to “evil Voodoo.” Even the wardrobe could be gloriously ordinary: Bassett laughs that one jumpsuit cost about $17 from a local store — and was perfect for the character.

For Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X, the responsibility felt different again. Bassett recalls auditioning opposite Denzel Washington, studying Shabazz beyond surface impressions and even hearing audio connected to the night of Malcolm X’s assassination so she could understand the pitch and texture of Shabazz’s grief. The work, she says, was about honoring the activist, husband, father and leader through the people left carrying that loss.

Then John Singleton Gave a Young Actor Her Movie Lane

Looking back at Boyz n the Hood, Bassett remembers John Singleton as a young filmmaker whose enthusiasm was impossible to miss. She and Laurence Fishburne found an immediate chemistry as Reva and Furious, and Bassett even added her own line — “You may be cute, but you ain’t special” — when the written dialogue felt a little too harsh without another beat around it.

More importantly, she remembers the film as a door. Up to that point, Bassett says she had done a great deal of episodic television and could feel how easily actors were kept in a “TV actor” lane. Singleton gave her an opportunity in film, and she still speaks about Boyz n the Hood as an eloquent, graceful portrayal made with enormous heart.

Athena Grant Brought Angela Bassett Back Into Ryan Murphy’s Orbit

By the time 9-1-1 arrived, Bassett already had years of history with Ryan Murphy through several seasons of American Horror Story. She remembers Murphy floating different ideas before Athena Grant finally materialized — a role that would let her balance the steadiness of a police officer with the very human panic, anger and grief of a mother.

That balancing act may be the cleanest thread running through the entire retrospective. Bassett talks about discipline constantly — containing Queen Ramonda’s grief, finding Tina Turner without being overwhelmed by Tina Turner, grounding Marie Laveau in community, keeping Betty Shabazz human rather than symbolic. The performances are big because the women are big. The technique underneath them is far more precise.

Watch Angela Bassett Rewatch Her Career With Vanity Fair

Bassett revisits Queen Ramonda, Bernadine, Marie Laveau, Tina Turner, Betty Shabazz, Reva Devereaux and Athena Grant across the full Vanity Fair career retrospective.

Source: Vanity Fair / YouTube. Images: Vanity Fair / YouTube.