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Angela Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg formed a close bond while filming the classic 1998 film How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
On June 17, the 64-year-old actress gushed about the incredible “sisterhood” she developed with her co-star while celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary at the Tribeca Film Festival.
During a panel discussion with the movie’s director, Kevin Rodney Sullivan, Bassett recalled how attentive Goldberg was to everyone’s needs on set. According to the Black Panther star, whenever a problem occurred, the award-winning actress was “ready to step up” and fight for the crew.
“I remember we were having to advocate for every worker on set because we were shooting out of the country,” Bassett said, according to Deadline.”We were receiving per diem, and it wasn’t matching the needs of the crew and Whoopi would say give the people what they need and mentioned that if they can’t get what they need, she will subsidize it for them. They ended up doing the right thing, but she was ready to step up. That’s a testament to her character as a person. It was a blessing to have her.”
Kevin Rodney Sullivan brought Black Love to the big screen in the ’90s.
Based on Terry McMillian’s 1996 best-selling book, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, follows Bassett’s character Stella, a 40-year-old stockbroker from San Francisco, who goes on vacation and sparks an unexpected romance with a young, hot 20-something named Winston Shakespeare. Taye Diggs stars as Bassett’s younger love interest in the steamy romance. ​Goldberg took on the role of Stella’s best friend, Delilah, who tragically dies from liver cancer in the film.
While reflecting on the iconic scene, Bassett said she truly felt the raw emotion from the fictional event, given her close connection with Goldberg.
“That scene when she passes, I felt that, for real, at her funeral,” the Golden Globe winner told the audience. “Because she was such a dear friend.”
Later on during the discussion, things got a little steamy when the Hollywood veteran went into detail about some of her sex scenes filmed with Diggs on set.
Bassett revealed that she and Sullivan worked closely together to storyboard the perfect intimate scene for the film.
“It’s my fantasy. He has to be naked, not me,” the actress shared of her hot onscreen encounter with Diggs People reported. “It was [a] very, very comfortable experience,” Bassett continued. “I had a couple other [experiences filming sex scenes], like you say it, from the male point of view, whether it was What’s Love or whether it was City of Hope, where you have these love scenes, and men are directing it, and it’s their fantasy.”
She added, “Sometimes, as an actor, as a woman, you feel a little uncomfortable. You don’t know how it’s gonna go.”
But overall, Bassett reiterated that her experience “was very comfortable.”
It looked more than comfortable if you ask us.
Congrats to Angela Bassett!
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