We’re currently in the throws of Awards Season, with all eyes on who will take home the 2025 Academy Awards. Every year as its own historic wins, as well as folks who ended up disappointed that they didn’t take home a trophy. When Jamie Lee Curtis won for Best Supporting Actress at the 2023 Oscars, that meant that Angela Bassett didn’t win for her performance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (which is streaming with a Disney+ subscription). And the legendary actress recently got honest about what it was like losing.
Despite her long and acclaimed career, the 66 year-old actress has only gotten two Oscar nominations. Some of the best Angela Bassett movies weren’t recognized in this way, despite her consistently excellent performances. While speaking with Town and Country Magazine, the What’s Love Got to Do With It icon spoke about not taking home an Oscar a few years ago, and going viral for her honest reaction. In her words:
I found it interesting. Interesting that I wouldn’t be allowed to be disappointed at an outcome where I thought I was deserving.
She’s got a point. Being disappointed or bummed out is a perfectly reasonable reaction to not winning an Oscar, especially considering it was Bassett’s first nomination in many years. She wasn’t disrespectful, she just had a human reaction ot the disappointment. As a reminder, you can watch that moment below:
While Angela Bassett remained mostly stoic, you can see that potentially winning an Oscar for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever meant a great deal to her. And her not winning did end up being one of the most surprising 2023 Oscar moments. In the same interview, she spoke about more about her reaction, where she didn’t clap for winner JLC.
I love applauding people. But in that moment…
In the end, Everything Everywhere All At Once (which is streaming with a Max subscription) ended up taking most of the major Awards during the Oscars that year. That included Jamie Lee Curtis’ victory, which Bassett confirmed was a bit surprising. She offered:
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.
In the end, Bassett be given an honorary Academy Award the very next year for her decades of powerful performances. She certainly wasn’t wrong about paying her dues, and it’s nice to see that the Academy rightfully gave the actress her flowers after her Best Supporting Actress loss. Indeed, she was one of the emotional cores of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Given her character’s death in the sequel, we might have seen the last of Angela Bassett’s Queen Ramonda. But given her popularity, there are still folks who are holding out hope she turns up in upcoming Marvel movies. Although we shouldn’t expect that in any of the titles of the 2025 movie release list.