Angela Bassett becomes Marvel's first actor nominated for an Oscar
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[January 25, 2023]
By Danielle Broadway
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Angela Bassett made history on Tuesday as the
first Marvel Cinematic Universe star to be nominated for an acting Oscar
for her “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” role as Queen Ramonda.
After being nominated in the best supporting actress category, Bassett
paid tribute to the character she portrayed.
“Wakanda Forever’s Queen Ramonda is a character that touched my spirit
because she is a mother and a leader who must care for her grieving
nation as much as she cares for her family in mourning,” Bassett said in
a statement.
Bassett is a favorite to win at the Oscar ceremony on March 12, having
already secured a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice award for the role.
The film secured four other nominations, including for visual effects
and costume design.
Bassett was previously nominated for a best actress Academy Award for
her portrayal as Tina Turner in the biopic "What's Love Got To Do With
It."
Disney’s "Black Panther” sequel sold around $330 million in tickets and
set a November record in the United States and Canada.
In the sequel, the character King T'Challa dies at the opening, a script
change made after actor Chadwick Boseman passed away from cancer in 2020
just before filming started.
Marvel decided not to recast T'Challa. Instead, writer and director Ryan
Coogler crafted a script that put female characters at the forefront.
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Angela Bassett accepts the Best
Supporting Actress award for "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" during
the 28th annual Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles, California,
U.S., January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
“Ramonda is a love letter that
reflects and acknowledges what we women do everyday,” Bassett said.
Her nomination challenges a long-held belief by
many big names in Hollywood, including directors Martin Scorsese and
Quentin Tarantino, that Marvel films are not real cinema.
“They seem to me to be closer to theme parks than they are to movies
as I’ve known and loved them throughout my life, and that in the
end, I don’t think they’re cinema,” Scorsese wrote in the New York
Times in 2019, igniting backlash.
Despite that kind of criticism, the first “Black Panther” won three
Academy Awards after garnering seven Oscar nominations in 2019,
including the first Best Picture nomination for a super hero movie.
Bassett is joined in the category by fellow nominees Hong Chau from
“The Whale,” Kerry Condon from “The Banshees of Inisherin,” and
Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu from “Everything Everywhere All
at Once.”
(Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Mary
Milliken and Bill Berkrot)
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