Laurence Fishburne bets on Angela Bassett to win Academy Award

Angela Bassett is currently nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Queen Romonda in Marvel’s ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ and acclaimed actor Laurence Fishburne is betting on her to win.

Bassett has already received a Golden Globe, a Critics Choice Movie Award among others for her part. She is the first actor to be nominated for a Marvel Cinematic Universe role.

Fishburne is a fan

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ follows Shuri (Letitia Wright), Ramonda, Okoye (Danai Gurira), Riri (Dominique Thorne) and M’Baku (Winston Duke) fighting to protect their nation from a new threat while also grieving T’Challa’s (Chadwick Boseman) death.

Fishburne told Variety: “It’s what’s in my heart that I’d like to talk about more than what’s on my mind. I’m just really, really happy about all of the accolades that have been coming Angela’s way for this performance.”

“I was just blown away by a couple of things,” he said. “First and foremost, this is a movie with five Black women as the leads, which was incredible.

“And the way Angela held the space as the queen was beyond impressive. Her leadership in this movie is incredible and her generosity, also, was just so beautiful to see,” he concluded.

Fishburne influenced Bassett’s award-worthy performance

Bassett’s most powerful scene in the movie comes when Ramonda reflects over losing her entire family. Fishburne called the scene “heartbreaking” and “brilliant”.

According to director Ryan Coogler, it was Bassett and Fishburne’s roles in ‘Boyz n the Hood’ that inspired Bassett’s memorable monologue.

The two actors starred alongside one another in the drama and crime film and Coogler pointed to the scene where their characters are arguing over the care of their son Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr).

“You put him in his place,” Coogler said in regards to the ‘Boyz n the Hood’ scene. “You were like, ‘Moms have been doing what you’ve been doing all the time, so you get no cookie.’”