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Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Angela Bassett made an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden on Wednesday night. Corden's other guest, Atlanta and Causeway actor Bryan Tyree Henry, turned into a late-night talk show host himself by taking to interview Bassett. The backstory is that Henry credits Bassett with making him realize he wanted to be an actor. He recently met the Wakanda Forever star, but said that he was too intimidated to say much to the actress.
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So, Corden allowed Tyree to temporarily sit in his chair to ask questions. While Corden and Henry must have planned the switch ahead of time, Bassett was momentarily taken aback.
"I've been ambushed," she said jokingly, and then asked Corden, "Well where you going?" as he stepped aside to allow Tyree his spot on the couch to ask some prepared questions.
Addressing Bassett as 'Dame' Angela Bassett, saying that if knighting were available in America, she would deserve the honor, Tyree asked a few questions he said he believed the public wanted to know about the 64-year-old actress.
Bassett, who also stars on the Fox procedural 9-1-1, has been receiving some of the most glowing accolades of her recent career for her role as Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
"Indeed, I do. I get little butterflies, but I think that's OK," she answered. "It shows that you're still in love with what you do, you're still excited about it, and I really don't take anything for granted."
Bassett returned the admiration, telling Henry, "That as a completely brilliant artist whose work that I have come to admire and love, I appreciate the work that you do and hope to be lucky enough one day to work with you. [I love] your vulnerability and sensitivity and strength, and you just bad [expletive]."
Corden took over hosting duties after that exchange, asking Bassett if her career thrived after her Oscar nomination for playing Tina Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It in 1994. Bassett lost out to Holly Hunter for The Piano but many observers and fans thought she deserved the award.
"The timing was different then. Black women weren't in a very significant way in movies at that time," Basset replied.
"So, you had to wait. Wait for the timing to be right. Wait for the directors like Katherine Bigelowin Strange Days. You had to wait for the writers like Terry McMillan in How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
You had to wait for those projects to happen for those artists to create, you know? And then to be ready when they were. So, it took a minute."
Bassett joked that after filming the physically demanding leading role in the Turner biopic, she took a 17-month nap. Bassett also discussed her future in the MCU. Spoiler alert - it's possible that she could make a return to the series despite her storyline ending in the current film.
"I was crestfallen," Bassett said of her character's arc in Wakanda Forever. "I was heartbroken when I got to that page in the script."
She says that she was somewhat reassured after a conversation with director Ryan Coogler, when he told her, "Don't worry about it. You can always come back."
As Marvel fans know regardless of a character's fate, there are numerous ways to return. Henry summed it up, saying, "You can be resurrected in a hot [expletive] minute."
Bassett just received another Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in Wakanda Forever. The BAFTA awards announced her among the nominees Thursday.
Earlier this month, Bassett won a Critics Choice award and a Golden Globe for playing Queen Ramonda, exponentially increasing her chances for an Oscar nod. If she gets it, she'd become the first actor or actress to receive the honor for an MCU film.
