Angela Bassett Admits She Was "Gobsmacked" She Didn’t Win Black Panther 2 Oscar (2024)

Angela Bassett, who plays Queen Ramonda in the MCU, reveals her opinion on her Black Panther: Wakanda Forever snub at the 95th Academy Awards in 2023. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever paid homage to Chadwick Boseman's passing with a heartfelt story that follows T'Challa's family defending their land and their people in his honor. In T'Challa's absence, Letitia Wright's Shuri and Angela Bassett's Queen Ramonda shine as the main stars alongside other members of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever's cast, including Danai Gurira's Okoye and Winston Duke's M'Baku.

Despite earning an Academy Award nomination for her standout performance, Angela Bassett didn't take home the 2023 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, which instead went to Jamie Lee Curtis for her role as Deirdre Beaubeirdre in Everything Everywhere All At Once. In an interview with Oprah on her OWN Spotlight series (via Variety), Angela Bassett describes her feelings about her Oscar loss as a "supreme disappointment" and recalls her immediate reaction during the ceremony, saying:

“I was gobsmacked! I was. I thought I handled it very well. That was my intention, to handle it very well. It was, of course, a supreme disappointment, and disappointment is human. So I thought, yes, I was disappointed and I handled it like a human being.”

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Bassett explains why she wasn't more expressive when Jamie Lee Curtis was announced as the winner. As Oprah mentions, online discussion about the "Angela Bassett face" made it sound like Bassett had reacted more visibly emotional, but the actor instead remained serene as Curtis headed to the stage to receive her award. Bassett also highlights the importance of a calm reaction to disappointment as an example for her children. The actor continues:

“There are going to be these moments of disappointment that they're going to experience, but how do you handle yourself in the midst of them? We’re going to smile, we’re going to be gracious, we’re going to be kind, we’re going to party anyway.”

All Awards Angela Bassett Did Win For Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Angela Bassett may not have won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but her nomination marked an important first in the MCU's 33-movie history, as it was the first Academy Award nomination for any performance in an MCU movie. Apart from the 95th Academy Awards, Angela Basset was nominated 22 times for her performance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. These ceremonies include the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Golden Globes, and the BET Awards.

Angela Bassett's eight wins are also an MCU record. Bassett is the first actor to win a Golden Globe for an MCU performance, as well as the first actor to be nominated at the BAFTA Awards for her performance in an MCU movie. Previously, MCU actors were only nominated at a few award ceremonies such as the Saturn, the MTV Movie & TV, the People's Choice, and the Kids' Choice. Both Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever have broken new ground in terms of awards nominations, not only in the Performance categories but also in Original Score and even Best Picture.

Meanwhile, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever artist Ruth E. Carter won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. This is the only of five Academy Award nominations that led to a win for the movie, having also been nominated for Best Original Song, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Visual Effects as well. Ruth E. Carter previously worked with Angela Bassett on 1993's What's Love Got to Do with It, where Bassett's role as Tina Turner earned the actor her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Source: Oprah Winfrey Network/Variety

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Director

Ryan Coogler

Release Date

November 11, 2022

Runtime

2h 41m

Budget

250 Million

Cast

Winston Duke , Dominique Thorne , Michaela Coel , Danai Gurira , Angela Bassett , Lupita Nyong'o , Letitia Wright , Martin Freeman