Angela Bassett gets righteous in England:
In an interview with Guardian Daily's Hannah Pool, Ang tells it like it is, takes us to church, and reminds us why we love her so.
"Even though we're free on paper and in laws, I'm not going to allow you to enslave me on film for the world to see. It becomes a bigger thing than me just being a movie star. Its about educating minds."
Listen and download the entire interview here! The interview starts 22:37 minutes in...
Jawn Murray of BlackVoices.com talks to Angie about Movies, Motherhood & Making New Moves:
You are directing your first film. Tell me about that.
The film is based on a book by Percival Everett called 'Erasure.' I always thought that I had a third eye, but it's frightening and I always wonder if I can pull it off. That's what's exciting; you don't want to get too comfortable. It's still a challenge. That's what this movie was starting out. You don't know how it's gonna turn out, you just know that it's gonna pan out. This is something that keeps you alive, wakes you up and keeps you guessing. It's a good story. I've had opportunities in the past to direct smaller, independent movies and television shows. I never want to do it just for the heck of it. As much time and attention as I play a character, imagine doing that for all of the characters, all the sets, all the lighting, all the music and all of the executives who are not creative. I cannot go through all of that if I'm not passionate about it and don't mind talking about it all the time and don't mind having that conversation over and over again. I hadn't found that script.
You are working on 'E.R.' now, which is your return to TV. Why did you decide to take on a TV acting part?
Times have changed. There used to be such a separation between TV and film acting. Now you have people moving back and forth between the two. It's no longer like film actors are better that television actors or stage actors are better than television actors. I'm glad that 'ER' is an ensemble show because with a one hour episode in drama seems to never end and it's three, four or six months before it finally comes to an end. I can't imagine doing a two hander or a show that really stars one person because your life is not your own all year long except for maybe five weeks and if it's a drama it's so emotional because you're doing that 16 hours a day nonstop. It's like trying to hold on to a moving train; it never slows down. Even on the weekends, you work on Friday night until four in the morning, you have Sunday and then Monday morning you hit it again. You're doing one scene and trying to memorize the next scene and it'Angela Bassetts like the only thing you know for sure is your name. I would think that it could get to be too much where you fake it unless you have a photographic memory. That ain't me.
How do you and your husband balance both being working actors and having children?
When the kids came along, he finished 'Law & Order' so he was home. Our lives are blessed, but it's not to the point where I know my next projects for the next five years. It's still very much like the life of most actors. You're doing this one; it comes to an end, what's the next one? It's worked out that we've both been there and he's been there. It was great that I did 'E.R.' and he was asked to come on as my husband. It was supposed to be for three episodes and then it got stretched to maybe five because it's working so it's been extended. So far it's working out. At the end of this, he just got a new pilot so he'll start with that. The ebb and flow of this life has worked out. I think the hardest part for me is that I work 15 minutes from home, but if you're on location for a film, you go away and it's so tough. I was talking to another actress who came back to the show, Alex Kingston, and she went to to do a TV show for five months and her child stayed in . She came home every six weeks or once a month for a couple of days. I was like, 'Let's not even talk about it because I can't imagine.' I'm 15 minutes from work, but their schedule is their schedule. On Monday, I have to be there at 6:00 am which means I have to get up at five, but they're not up at 5:00 am. They're not up until 7:00 am. I have to do a 12 to a 16 hour day and when I get home at 8:00 pm, they're sleep because they go to bed at 7:30. Then, on Fridays we might work until 3:00 in the morning so that's the hard part. I'm in the house with them- the husband and the children- and I haven't seen you all day or I haven't seen you for two days.
Read the full interview at [BlackVoices.com]
For Your Information:
- Make sure to catch the NAACP Image Awards tonight at 8PM on FOX! Ang is nominated for two awards and you know shes walking away with at least one.
- Plus Gospel Hill is now available on DVD! Both Amazon.com and Walmart have the award winning film starring Angela, Danny Glover, Nia Long, Samuel L. Jackson, and Giancarlo Esposito in stock.
- The release date for Nothing But the Truth is postponed since the distribution company for the film went bankrupt in January but, the political thriller is available for free download here!
Alonzo Bodden: He's Got Jokes!
Check out this comedy clip 0:27 seconds in!