Angela Bassett (left) and Chadwick Boseman in 2018.Photo:Jesse Grant/Getty
Jesse Grant/Getty
Angela Bassetthas emotional memories of her time working with the lateChadwick Boseman.
The award-winning actress tells PEOPLE inher cover storyfor the Women Changing the World issue that she and the late Boseman shared a “beautiful,” “full-circle moment” together when Bassett wrapped up shooting her scenes for the firstBlack Pantherfilm, which premiered in 2018.
“That was my last day of shooting, and we were at the falls in Warrior Falls. I had finished my assignment and Chadwick came and hugged me. And I just hugged him and just embraced him,” Bassett recalls. “And of course it was a glorious set filled with splendid beauty and people and music and pride.”
In bothBlack Pantherand its sequel,Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Bassett played Queen Ramonda, mother of Boseman’s character, T’Challa, also known as Black Panther. Bassett’s portrayal of a grieving queen earned her a second Oscar nomination in 2023.
Reflecting on Boseman, whodied of colon cancer in August 2020at 43, Bassett praises both his character and accomplishments.
“To see the work that he was doing and to have come to know, every day, the human being that he was - sometimes you don’t have to say much, but you can just look into one another’s eyes and convey all that you mean, all that you hope,” she says.
“You don’t know what the future brings,” she adds, reflecting on the star’s untimely death. “And of course it was something very different than what anyone could have imagined.”
She and Boseman had met years before he was famous when she gave the commencement speech at Howard University in 2000. Reuniting while makingBlack Pantherrepresented a “beautiful moment,” she says.
“To have come to know this young man who was a student when I got an honorary degree at Howard, he was my escort,” she says, noting, “It was a full circle moment to come and now the great opportunity I had to portray his mother.”
Angela Bassett (left) and Chadwick Boseman inBlack Panther.Marvel/Disney
At theGolden Globe Awardsin January 2023,Bassett spoke about honoring BosemanmakingWakanda Forever, which shifted its plot from a plannedfather-son storyto one honoring its original title star. “Weeping may come in the evening, but joy comes in the morning,” said Bassett onstage.
“We have joy in knowing that with this historicBlack Pantherseries, it is a part of his legacy that he helped to lead us to. We showed the world what Black unity, leadership and love looks like beyond, behind in front of the camera," Bassett continued.
Chadwick Boseman.Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
Bassett also opened up to PEOPLEabout the “fight” for her own hard-won career, from her 1991 breakthrough onBoyz n the Hoodto her honorary Oscarawarded at the Governors Awards in January.
“I’ve always been a hard worker,” the9-1-1star says in PEOPLE’s cover story. “You have to know what to say no to as well as what to say yes to. And during this time, a lot of things have been worthy of me saying yes to.”
For more on Angela Bassett’s life lessons, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, available on newsstands everywhere Friday.
Often leaving her home before the sun rises and returning after dark to film9-1-1(which kicks off season 7 with ahoneymoon cruise disasteron ABC March 14) some days, she says she feels guilt about the time away from her teenage children, who are heading to college in the fall.
“But also I hope that what will come out of that is that they see a mama, a woman, a Black woman achieving her dreams, having success,” she says. “They’ll see that hard work pays off. And they’ll be about that life for themselves.”
source: people.com
