Angela Bassett didn’t win the Oscar for Best Supporting actress. That award went to Jamie Lee Curtis for her role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — which was Curtis’ first Oscar nomination and win.
This was Bassett’s second Oscar nomination. Her first nomination was for her leading role as Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”
My colleagues in the media room showed their shock at Bassett’s loss as did fans across the world via social media.
Actor, and director Michael B. Jordan, who co-starred with Bassett in (2018) “Black Panther,” along with his “Creed III” co-star, Jonathan Majors, didn’t miss a beat about showing their disappointment about Bassett’s loss.
On stage, the men expressed their admiration to her: “Hey, Auntie,” Jordan said, with Majors adding, “We love you.” “Mm-hmm,” Jordan agreed.
Where we did win was with Ruth E. Carter who earned her second Best Costume Design Oscar for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She won her first for the original Black Panther (2019). In her speech, Carter remembered her mother who passed this week at 101 years old, saying that she was now with the ancestors.
Here’s what Oscar winner Ruth E. Carter had to share about winning her second Oscar. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity).
ON WINNING
A. Oh, man, what a win. This is a tough lineup of the best costume design. So, I’m really happy for my colleagues as well. Because they deserve the nomination, and they also deserve to win.
ON HER PROCESS
A. Well, you know… I love costumes, so that’s really hard for me. But, you know, it’s about storytelling. You don’t want to distract. You don’t want to ‑‑ you want to support. And I enjoy supporting actors. I enjoy shepherding them to the set in a costume that they feel good in, and that they can perform in. So I never wanted to overshadow the story or the performance. I’m here to support, and it’s a collaborative medium.
ON FINDING THE RIGHT TONE
In the first film, we were introduced to Queen Ramonda as the queen, as support to T’Chala. In WAKANDA FOREVER, we’re introduced to her as the ruler of Wakanda. So we stepped up. We ‑‑ we enhanced ‑‑ Angela always wanted to play a queen. And so, to amplify her as the ruler of Wakanda, we added vibranium, more vibranium. We added an extra element to her isicholo, the married woman’s crown that she wears. We gave her the royal color of purple and adorned in gold as she enters the UN in this gown and it was incredible to elevate Queen Ramonda to this new status. And so, the process was to give her strength and show also ‑‑ the way that she embodied her place in Wakanda. As you can see in the film when she sits on the throne, she’s in a gray, one‑shoulder dress. And the one ‑‑ the exposed shoulder shows her strength because, you know, Angela, she got those guns, right? So, we exposed her arms. We exposed her arms at the ‑‑ in the UN to show, you know, how beautiful women can be, how strong and vulnerable at the same time, but also can lead a nation.
ON WHAT THE WIN MEANS TO HER
A. Listen, I ‑‑ I pulled myself up from my bootstraps. I started, you know, a single‑parent household. I wanted to be a costume designer. I studied, I scraped, you know. I dealt with adversity in the industry that sometimes didn’t look like me. And I endured. So, I ‑‑ I feel that this win opens the door for other young costume designers that, you know, may not think that this industry is for them. And hopefully, they will see me, and they will see my story, and they will think that they can win an Oscar too.
ON LEGACY
A. My mom passed away last week, and I had a great relationship with her in her final years, the same relationship that I’ve always had with her. I was her ride-or-die, I was her road dog, I was her sidekick. And she always wanted me to follow my dream. Even after I graduated from college, I came back home to do an internship, and I didn’t quite know where I wanted to step next. And I packed up my Volkswagen Rabbit, and my mother said, “You don’t want to stay here. You can just go.” So I know she’s proud of me. I know that she wanted this for me as much as I wanted it for myself.
An Oscar, simply does not define the totality of ” who we are ”. Or what, we have accomplished. Especially when, it’s disbursement is controlled by ” others”. What is more important, is that , we humbly elevate, our own.