Angela Bassett responds to Anthony Hopkins’ criticism of the MCU: “I’m sorry for him”
The star of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Angela Bassett, has discussed Anthony Hopkins’ negative dismissal of his experience working with a green screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Ultimately, she says she is “sorry for” actor as their working environments were considerably different.
Hopkins caused a stir in February 2021 when he sat down with The New Yorker and was somewhat dismissive of his time working on the 2011 feature film Thor. Notably, the Welshman played Odin in three movies for the MCU; Thor, Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok.
During the interview, it was noted that Hopkins wrote “N.A.R” which stands for “No Acting Required”, on his Thor script after reading it. Then asked how he knows when acting is required, he said: “I try to apply it to everything I do: no acting required. On Thor, you have Chris Hemsworth – who looks like Thor – and a director like Kenneth Branagh, who is so certain of what he wants. They put me in armour; they shoved a beard on me. Sit on the throne; shout a bit. If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s pointless acting it.”
In a recent interview with The New Yorker, Bassett discussed her experiences working in the MCU. She noted the differences between now and then, acknowledging she had it “much better” than Hopkins. “Well, here’s the thing. It was there,” Bassett said of the sets on Wakanda Forever.
“The throne room was there, the floor of red clay, the elevation with the Dora Milaje flanking around, the grand doors that they walk through,” she continued. “So maybe you don’t see the world of Wakanda, but we had that.”
“When Shuri and I went out into the wild, we had trees and bushes and water for yards and yards and yards, and Namor came up out of the water and flew to us. We had the entire ship, and the attention to detail inside of it was just magnificent. So I had it much better than Anthony Hopkins.”
“I’m sorry for him,” she added.
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