Angela Bassett lives and breathes for Keke Palmer’s portrayal of her. The duo, who joined forces 16 years after starring together in akeelah and the bee, shared a laugh at Palmer’s spot on impression of Bassett while sitting down with him vanity fair.
Bassett was the first to break the ice when she told the actress, “I’ve seen you impersonate me on the internet. They’re doing a great job,” to which Palmer replied that it was one of her “most remarkable impressions.”
According to Palmer, Bassett isn’t the only fan of her impersonation. She told Queen Latifah, with whom she has worked on several projects (including the 2012 musical). Happy sound), let her do that all the time.
“I used to do it just for them, I’ve only recently started doing it online and everything,” she said. “But whenever we’ve worked together — I did it for her once — and she said, ‘Do Angela.'”
Eventually, Bassett convinced Palmer to do the impersonation for her. She said, “Okay, Keke. We are here together. We’re finally here. I don’t have to watch you online. I can actually see it right here in front of me.”
As a shy Palmer said, “I can’t believe this. That’s crazy,” Bassett encouraged her not to be shy, noting that the actress is “not shy at all.”
From there, Palmer debuted a full-on impersonation of Bassett’s character in the 1992 miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream where she appeared as matriarch Katherine Jackson.
Palmer praised the veteran actress’ performance on the show as “amazing” and “incredible” before Bassett got involved in the impersonation himself. And, fun fact, she even said she improvised part of the scene where Katherine finds out her husband is cheating on her.
Can someone please cast these two together in another film as soon as possible? It’s obviously been way too long.