Angela Bassett slammed movie as degrading to black women

Bassett Bashes Berry's "Monster" Role
Mon., Jun. 24, 2002 11:10 AM PDT by Mark Armstrong

Actress Angela Bassett hasn't had a starring role on the big screen since 1998. So how is she getting her groove back? By dissing the role that earned Halle Berry an Oscar.
The 43-year-old actress is speaking out about racism, sexism and ageism in Hollywood in the latest issue of Newsweek, and she saves her harshest words for Monster's Ball, saying she turned down the film's lead role because she thinks it was demeaning to black women.

Berry later snagged the part--that of a death-row widow who inadvertently falls in love with the man who executed her husband--and nabbed the Academy Award for Best Actress. According to Bassett, "It's about character, darling."

She tells the magazine. "I wasn't going to be a prostitute on film. I couldn't do that because it's such a stereotype about black women and sexuality."

Bassett swears she's not trying to criticize Berry (um, okay), but adds, "it's about putting something out there you can be proud of 10 years later. I mean Meryl Streep won Oscars without all that."

Berry's camp isn't commenting about Bassett's interview. But the quotes appear to be a not-so-veiled jab from a woman who Berry mentioned in her tearful Oscar acceptance speech in March, when it marked the first time an African-American woman has received the honor.

Bassett herself was once nominated for an Oscar for her gritty portrayal of Tina Turner in 1993's biopic What's Love Got to Do with It. Her r?sum? also includes Boyz N the Hood, Malcolm X, Strange Days, Contact and Waiting to Exhale.

Since then, however, the lead roles have dried up: Bassett's last starring gig came four years ago, with 1998's adaptation of the Terry McMillan book How Stella Got Her Groove Back. In last summer's The Score, for instance, she had little to do in a supporting role as the girlfriend of Robert De Niro's character.

So is her Monster's rant just a case of sour grapes? The Newsweek story spins Bassett as a fiercely independent woman on the comeback trail, earning critical raves for her latest role in John Sayles' ensemble drama Sunshine State. She says it's been difficult to battle Hollywood perceptions of race and age (she says both were at play when then lesser known Catherine Zeta-Jones beat her out for a role opposite Sean Connery in Entrapment) and at the same time, remain true to herself.

(Of course, not all of Bassett's film credits are nearly so high-minded: 1991's Critters 4, anyone?)

But Bassett says she's not willing to take just any role in order to keep working. "I'm not living on beans and water yet," she says. "I'll just have to wait for it to come to me. If it's supposed to be mine, it will be."

As for the Monster's Ball role, Bassett insists she's happy for Berry, and did get teary-eyed when Halle mentioned her in the Oscar speech.

"I can't and don't begrudge Halle her success," Bassett adds. "It wasn't the role for me, but I told her she'd win and I told her to go get what was hers. Of course I want one, too. I would love to have an Oscar. But it has to be for something I can sleep with at night."