Angela Bassett recalls her emotional moment with Austin Butler at the 2023 Oscars

Angela Bassett experienced more than one viral moment at the last Oscar gala, held on March 12 in Los Angeles. Nominated for the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in the Marvel movie, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, the actress attended the ceremony and sat next to Austin Butler, nominated in his case for Best Leading Actor, for his portrayal of the King of Rock, Elvis Presley, in the biopic ‘Elvis’.

Moments later, Bassett failed to win the Oscar (Jamie Lee Curtis would be the lucky one to climb the stairs to the stage, for ‘Everything at once everywhere’) and gave rise to one of the most viral videos of the night (that of her “anger” at not winning the prize).

In the same way happened later to Butler, who lost against Brendan Fraser and his leading role in ‘The Whale’. At this decisive moment, Bassett and Butler interlocked their hands as a sign of fellowship, something that caught the public’s attention and was framed as one of the “moments” of the event.

Now, having rained since that night, Bassett has stopped to reminisce about what happened and to comment on what he experienced on the other side of the camera.

“On Oscar night, when Austin was sitting next to me, I internally understood what he felt when it came to knowing who would win the prize,” wrote the actress in a tribute to Butler, as part of the magazine article Time‘The 100 most influential people of 2023’.

“I gently held his hand as the victor was announced. Although they didn’t say his name, Austin is still a winner. The time had come for Austin to say goodbye to Elvis, and for him to begin to immerse himself in an infinite universe of possibilities as an actor. I can’t wait to see what he brings us next.”

The actress, who has also known what it means to embody a real person (she gave life to Tina Turner in the biopic ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It’), continued to praise the actor’s performance in ‘Elvis’.

“I watched ‘Elvis’ with profound admiration for the effort I knew Austin was putting into his performance,” he wrote. “It is very important for an actor to find his way to the icon. It is not about trying to imitate him, but about offering a perspective of the artist while we interpret parts of his story. You leave that shoot changed forever.“

“Your hope is that when people see the movie, they don’t see you. Let them see the artist’s journey through a different lens,he added.Austin accomplished this with a brilliant and nuanced performance.”

The next thing we’ll see from Butler is ‘Dune. Part II’. The actor will accompany Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Zendaya in the sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s science fiction film, giving life to Feyd-Rautha.