Angela Bassett on her ‘new friendship’ with Austin Butler

Angela Bassett has shared insight into the bond she forged with Austin Butler during the 2023 film awards season.

Both Bassett and Butler were in contention for major accolades in recent months, with both taking home Golden Globes for their performances in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Elvis, respectively.

While repeatedly attending the same ceremonies as one another, the actors connected over their similar experiences.

When Butler didn’t win the Academy Award for Best Actor, Bassett was seen comforting him, having missed out on the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress herself earlier that evening.

To mark Butler being named as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023 on Thursday (13 April), Bassett supplied some words about her new friend.

“The first time I met Austin Butler, we were both starting to find our grooves in what promised to be a busy awards season,” she wrote. “We connected in a fleeting moment, one of many when we would share a hug and warm words.

“Despite all that swirled around him, Austin opened his heart to new friends. I was fortunate to be one of them.”

As well as praising Butler’s “brilliantly nuanced” performance in the Baz Luhrmann-directed Elvis Presley biopic, Bassett also recalled sitting with the former Nickelodeon actor during the Oscars.

Bassett, a two-time Oscar nominee, could relate to how Butler was feeling just before the winner for his category was announced.

She wrote: “I understood intimately what he felt when it was time to learn if he would climb those stairs to the stage. So, I took his hand and held it softly as the winner was announced.

“Although his name wasn’t called, Austin is no less a winner.”

Soon after the 2023 Oscars last month, Bassett was praised by many for her “real” reaction to not winning an award on the night.

Instead, Jamie Lee Curtis took home the Best Supporting Actress statuette for her portrayal of a lonely tax auditor in Everything Everywhere All at Once.