Breakfast With … Angela Bassett

before or during the filming? No. It came about pretty quickly for me. So what was it like for you directing sex scenes because there are several steamy ones? Approaching it, I was a little bit nervous to start off, but after a couple of minutes, a couple takes, I let that go [and thought] we gotta get what we gotta get. We want people to feel this. My editor said, “I don’t like editing sex scenes because they never feel real, but I gotta say this one did.” [Laughing.] After a while, I’m behind the monitor, and I am just, “I want to see somebody’s tongue!” [Laughs.] “Come on, Whitney! You’re not tired. You’re breathless” [laughing hard]. Was there anything about her life that you could relate to? You went to Yale and she did not have a college education, but you both had modest beginnings and ended up in the spotlight. She didn’t go to college, but I think she was a very intelligent woman. She was able to express herself cogently, honestly. Then you have celebrity, but the degree to which she experienced it — there is a great deal of scrutiny. [What] we are doing right now — lots of interviews. It’s so one-sided. I don’t get to ask you anything about who you are and what you desire and what you’re attempting to do and trying to convey. It’s really odd. With her status, filling massive stadiums with screaming fans, they love you, but it feels so lonely. So the friends you do have, you hold them dear. Yet you came into this industry … and you just want to be open and honest and loving and receptive. Celebrity sort of conspires against that. So what was it that acting gave you? I suppose it’s like if you are a teenager and you are writing in your diary and you are trying to express yourself, and you are coming up with your little teenage girl poems and short stories. It was that for me. Being a little bit shy, it was the way to put on the cloak of someone else and to be able to fully express emotions. Sometimes [it was]: “Why do you feel that way?” “Stop that.” “Stop crying.” “Stop hollering.” “Stop complaining.” [Laughing.] Sounds like a mother telling you that. Exactly. But you can just act ugly, act pretty, just express yourself. It’s a way of expression, as singing would be. To tell a story in a song, to sell a lyric, [Whitney] was the best. Well, the film left you wanting more. We want to know everything. As you are climbing, that what you just expressed is desirable and positive. But as you have that success, that same desire [of others] to know your life, to peek into your life, then it becomes intrusive. [At first] you want them to know your name, then by the end you might be sitting there trying to have dinner with your family or your friend and someone wants your picture. They want an autograph. They want you to get on the phone with their aunty [laughs]. You throw your hands up and you say, “I just want a normal life.”