ANGELA’S JUST MARVEL-OUS!
The Black Panther goddess takes us to a new world
Angela Bassett is one busy lady. Last year, she received an Emmy nomination for her guest role in Netflix’s Master of None and filmed Mission: Impossible6 alongside Tom Cruise, as well as appearing in Three series 9-1-1. Now the beauty is hitting the big screen in Marvel film Black Panther.
Tell us about your character.
I am Black Panther’s mother Ramonda. I’m also the Queen Mother of Wakanda. It has been Ramonda’s greatest joy and honour to serve the people. She is the widow of T’Chaka, Black Panther’s father.
What was your initial exposure to Marvel and Black Panther?
My kids knew more about it than I did, of course. I had heard of the character, but I wasn’t familiar with the comic. So it was absolutely eye-opening to see that so many people are excited about it. Black Panther is really such a popular and beloved character.
Why did this film appeal to you?
The people that I would work with drew me to the project. Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther, Lupita Nyong’o and Michael B. Jordan are such wonderful talents. Plus director Ryan Coogler – I’m such a big fan of his work.
What did you connect with in Ramonda?
She’s a wife and a mother of a son of whom she is immensely proud – and of a young daughter, Shuri. You have that back and forth between Shuri and Ramonda sometimes as she’s trying to assert her independence, and as she’s growing into her humanity and her adulthood. As a mother of a boy and a girl, I know that there are just different dynamics and tensions that play out between boys and girls, mothers and sons, and mothers and daughters.
Why is this story important?
We’ve never seen a world like this populated with people who look like me, who embrace the past and who are also on the cutting-edge of the future. To see so many different faces, colours and temperaments is something that’s really different, unheard of and special. It was absolutely stunning and amazing. I would rate it as one of the best experiences in my career.