In Angela Bassett’s view
NEW YORK – Angela Bassett doesn’t think she has what it takes to be a 911dispatcher. “I’d imagine it’s very stressful, all the screaming and crying and trying to keep them calm on the other end,” she says over coffee. “I think you’d have to have answers for all the crazy stuff going on.”
Bassett, 59, gets a taste of some of that crazy in Fox’s 9-1-1, producer Ryan Murphy’s pulpy procedural that wraps its first season Wednesday (9 ET/PT). The drama, which co-stars Peter Krause and Connie Britton, follows a group of Los Angeles cops, firefighters and paramedics who respond to wild, often squirm-inducing emergencies, from a baby who gets flushed down the toilet to a drunk man feasting on another guy’s face. Murphy created the character of police officer Athena Grant with Bassett in mind, the Amer
ican Horror Story actress says, and based the show on real-life emergency calls.
USA TODAY sat down with Bassett to discuss the show (already renewed for a second season) and billion-dollar superhero movie Black Panther, featuring the actress as the Queen Mother of Wakanda.
Question: There have been some pretty gruesome emergencies this season, like the guy who gets burned in a tanning bed and the man with a 7-foot tapeworm inside him. Is there one that you found toughest to watch?
Bassett: Some of them are pretty astounding. The one that’s coming in (this week’s) episode, you’re like, “Really? Did that really happen?” It involves a motorcycle crash and that one’s pretty rough. You know it’s all smoke and mirrors, but you’re still like, “I hope they just made this up.”
Q: Athena has struggled to keep her family together after her husband (Rockmond Dunbar) came out as gay. How will that affect her going into the season finale?
Bassett: It’ll be interesting how that plays into the second season. The dating scene is new for her, and now she’s
finally freed herself. (She and her husband) are going to divorce, and then she can move on. Athena is very black-and-white, like, “I’m still married. The ring is still on, even though we’re at a standstill in terms of our intimacy.” The cop in her won’t let her (date) until she’s moved on legally.
Q: Did you ever want to be a cop or nurse growing up?
Bassett: I thought I wanted to be a pediatrician, because as a second job, my mother would clean up a pediatrician’s office. So I was like, “Oh, OK, baby doctor.” Until I got to college, and all the courses of science with the blood, guts and cadavers? I was like, “Mm, no.” After that, I wanted to be an actor. I didn’t go through many (phases), although I always thought maybe a teacher. I’d enjoy that. I love young folks learning.
Q: Congratulations on the success of Black Panther. How does it feel to see it breaking records every week?
Bassett: It’s like being in the eye of a storm. It’s kind of calm right here in the middle of it. But seeing the reaction of folks is pretty phenomenal.
Q: You retweeted Hillary Clinton’s praise for the movie —
Bassett: — and Michelle Obama’s. It’s astounding. It’s just captured the moment. Like the coda ... when T’Challa is standing in front of the U.N. and says that we’re closer than you think and we need each other, and to share and embrace. With what we’re going through in 2018, to hear some sense come from the Marvel Universe is pretty wild.
Q: The Internet went crazy for the cast’s incredible outfits at the world premiere in Los Angeles in January. Did you coordinate your looks?
Bassett: No, not at all. It was just a big moment, all about color and energy. I wanted to look like the African sun, and nod to Africa and fashion, but also keep it modern and fresh.
Q: Did the director, Ryan Coogler, ever tease any ideas for a sequel?
Bassett: No, he was in it 1,000%. He wasn’t ahead of himself, he was completely in the moment. ... It’s such a blessing, because it’s also shattered expectations or myths about what a film about black folk can do, in the marketplace ... There’s always been this thought that these kinds of films with these people and these faces don’t travel. This has shown that is so not true.