Actress Angela Bassett was not about to get drawn into a spat between moviemakers Spike Lee and Tyler Perry over blacks in film. The tiff flared up recently when Perry took a potshot at Lee after Lee ripped Perry’s successful Madea comedy flicks for their supposedly unflattering representations of African-American culture. Said an article about the feud, and Perry’s popularity, on Tina Brown’s Daily Beast website: “Top [black] talent would surely prefer to have other options in film roles if they were available. They aren’t. Just ask Angela Bassett.”
In Dallas with the rest of the cast Saturday for a party celebrating T.D. Jakes’ new movie, Jumping the Broom, Bassett–who starred in Perry’s Meet the Browns–said finding good roles is “always a struggle” for any actor or actress, regardless of their color. “An actor always thinks there’s more” and better roles out there, added Bassett (shown in photo by Jeanne Prejean). “I’m my own unique individual, and I like what I like.” Bassett, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in 1993’s What’s Love Got To Do with It, said she’ll be playing Dr. Amanda Waller in Green Lantern, a new film due out in June, and also is set to star in Identity, an ABC-TV crime pilot.
