ANGELA BASSETT’S JUMPING THE BROOM

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By Sjourna

The Oscar nominee, Angela Bassett, is staring in the new TriStar film, Jumping the Broom, due to start shooting at the end of July in Nova Scotia. Produced by T.D. Jakes & Tracey Edmonds – the story revolves around two black families meeting for the first time for a wedding at Martha’s Vineyard. The two families are totally opposites on all levels – economic, social and political. Basset, who is the mother of the bride, plays an heiress and pillar of Washington’s elite. Jumping the Broom, a phrase taken from a custom relating to slave wedding ceremonies, stars Laz Alonzo, Loretta Devine, Paula Patton and Romeo Miller.

Known as a power-house Oscar nominated actress – Bassett will make her directorial debut in the new film – United States based on the successful novel Erasure by Percival Everett. Screenplay by Dwayne Johnson-Cochran — the story follows a brilliant but frustrated writer who writes a scathing and offensive novel that becomes a huge hit. When he has to defend and go public with his new work, his personal and professional life begins to merge. This project is produced by Vance/Bassett Production Company and is expected to be released in 2011.

Even though United States will display Bassett’s directorial skills – she has served as producer of the HBO movie Ruby’s Bucket of Blood along with Whoopi Goldberg in 2001. Also, she produced the 2002 TV movie Our America.

Raised with her sister in Florida by a social worker single mother – Bassett was born in New York City. She credits James Earl Jones for sparking the acting fire in her soul –while on a school field trip to see a live stage performance of “Of Mice and Men.” As a high achiever –Bassett received a scholarship to Yale University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in African-American Studies and a Masters degree at the Yale School of Drama. During this time – she was under the tutelage of theatre guru Lloyd Richards who cast Bassett in his 1984 Broadway production of August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”

Hitting the big screen as a tough-taking Prostitute in Double Take in 1985– Bassett’s biggest break came in 1993 when she portrayed the ever energetic Tina Turner in the biopic – What’s Love Got to Do With It. This role earned Bassett an Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe Award. Another career-high point came through best-selling author, Terry McMillian, film adaptation of Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back. However, 2001 saw Bassett in a petite media storm – revealing that she turned down the Monster’s Ball role (which earned Halle Berry an Oscar) because of the sexual content (Entertainment Weekly June 24, 2002). Later, Bassett teamed up again with Laurence Fishburne in Akeelah and the Bee as well as staring in Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns. We last saw Bassett as a regular cast of the medical drama series ER for the show’s final season (2008–2009). Also, she was the voice of Michelle Obama in an episode of The Simpsons.

written by Susan-Sojourna Collier
July 13, 2010

 

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