Angela Bassett.
Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Angela Bassett is not mad, she’s just disappointed. Bassett addresses the reaction to her 2023 Oscar loss in Town & Country. “I found it interesting,” she says in the February 20 profile. “Interesting that I wouldn’t be allowed to be disappointed at an outcome where I thought I was deserving.” That year, she was nominated for her work in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever but lost to Jamie Lee Curtis for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. In the clip of Curtis winning, you can see Bassett’s face freeze, and she does not stand up to clap for Curtis like her fellow losing nominees do.
“I love applauding people,” she says. “But in that moment … No, I have put in: put in the time, put in good work over time. I didn’t think that was a gift. I thought it was a given.” The following year, Bassett received an honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards.
Interestingly, Town & Country also interviewed one of Bassett’s good friends, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, for the Bassett profile, likely before Jean-Baptiste was snubbed of an acting nomination by the Academy this year for her work in Hard Truths. “That’s a tough one, because she’s really respected among her peers, and maybe the Establishment has not done [right by her],” Jean-Baptiste said, of Bassett. “But I think it’s about opportunity. It’s about getting the chance to play different things, and I’m not sure those opportunities have been on the table for her.” Maybe these two need to resolve their feelings onscreen. Buddy-revenge movie?
