Anthony Hopkins and Angela Bassett share a somewhat similar space in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bassett stars in the Black Panther movies as Queen Ramonda, mother to T’Challa and Shuri and ruler of Wakanda. Hopkins has been a key part of the Thor franchise as Odin, father of Thor and ruler of Asgard. Both actors play Marvel’s royals, but their specific experiences couldn’t be more different. After all, Hopkins infamously wrote “no acting required” in his original script for “Thor.”
“I try to apply it to everything I do: no acting required,” Hopkins told The New Yorker in 2021 about acting in Marvel movies. “In Thor, you have Chris Hemsworth – who looks like Thor – and a director like Kenneth Branagh, who’s pretty sure of what he wants. They put me in armor. They put a beard on me. Sit on a throne. He yells a little bit. If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s a no-brainer.” futile behind him.”
In a new interview with The New Yorker, Bassett responded to Hopkins’ experience by emphasizing how different the set of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was with Hopkins’ heavy green-screen description of the set of “Thor.”
“The throne room was over there,” Bassett said, “red terracotta floor, and the elevation with Dora Milaje skirtings, and the great doors through which they pass.” “So you probably don’t see the world of Wakanda, but we had it. When Shuri and I went out into the wilderness, we had trees and bushes and water for yards and yards and yards, and Namor came out of the water and flew to us. We had the whole ship, and the attention to detail on it was great. So I had Much better than Anthony Hopkins. I’m sorry for him.”
“We’ve been in Wakanda, and we know Wakanda is special,” Bassett continued. “We had a shuri lab. Open the elevator. We had a fake elephant and her baby came in. Of course, they made the elephant born later, but at least we had an elephant to fight back.”
The idea on the set for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was helped by Bassett’s performance as Queen Ramonda, who is currently the front-runner to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Bassett is already taking home accolades from the Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards this awards season, and she’s also been nominated at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now streaming on Disney+.
