What Keke Palmer Learned From Angela Bassett, and Vice Versa

Angela Bassett has a surprise for Keke Palmer. When the veteran actor was cast in Akeelah and the Bee in 2004, she tells Palmer as the two reunited in Los Angeles this fall, it was because a then 11-year-old Palmer had handpicked Bassett to play her mother. “Oh, my gosh!” Palmer replies, genuinely shocked. “They ask you all the time, but you never know if they’re really going to do it.”

For Palmer, Akeelah and the Bee was the start of a fruitful child-acting career that led to prominence in a handful of fields—along with singing, hosting an NBC game show, and launching her own digital network, she’s received accolades for her charismatic turn in Jordan Peele’s sci-fi thriller Nope. As for Bassett, she was already an Oscar and Emmy nominee when they shot Akeelah, but—as her role in this year’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as T’Challa’s grieving mother, Queen Ramonda, demonstrates—she’s as capable of surprising audiences as ever. 

It’s been a decade and a half since they played mother and daughter in the film about an aspiring spelling bee champ. But Bassett acknowledges that they have at least one obvious connection that remains: “People say we look alike, right?” she says as she sits down with Palmer. “And I live for it!” says Palmer. “I’m so thankful because you’re so gorgeous. It makes my life that people say that!” Ahead, excerpts from their Reunited conversation about Akeelah, their career trajectories—and Palmer’s impression of Bassett, which was a viral hit.

Vanity Fair: Let’s get it out of the way now: Angela, what do you think of Keke’s impression of you?

Angela Bassett: You do a great job.

Keke Palmer: Thank you so much. It’s one of my most notable impressions. Queen Latifah used to have me do it all the time.

Bassett: A friend of mine in DC, she sent it to me. I didn’t know what it was, it was on Instagram or something. And I looked and of course, it was like, hearts, hearts, hearts, hearts. I love it. I adore it.

Palmer: I saw What’s Love Got to Do With It very young, and The Jacksons: An American Dream very young. You were the most iconic thing to me in both of those films, obviously. What’s Love Got to Do With It—I think it took years for me to know who the real Tina Turner was, because in my mind it was you.

Keke, what are your memories of Angela from Akeelah and the Bee?

Palmer: I remember I was doing one of the scenes where Akeelah had to cry. It was all stressed out on set.

Bassett: It was very much stressed out because you were 11, and there are child labor laws, and we had to get you off the clock. It was the last scene of the day, so there was a lot of tension in the air. 

Palmer: It was a lot of pressure. I just remember that you looked at me, you grabbed my hand, and you said, “You love what you do, right?” I was like, “Yeah, I love acting.” You said, “And who does that with you?” I said, “I do it with my mom. We do everything all the time together.” And you said, “What if she said, ‘I can’t do this with you anymore. You’re gonna do it all on your own if you’re gonna do it at all, and I can’t be there with you’? How would that make you feel?” And literally, in that moment, I immediately started crying, and the director was like, “Roll it, roll it, roll it!” I just remember thinking about how you helped me to just focus in, and not only focus in, but to attach it to something that’s real for me.

Bassett: I remember you just staring at me, and listening, fully and completely listening. It was very loud [on set] and it was just, “Let’s just be in our own little bubble right here and have a little quiet conversation, and look into each other’s eyes.” You went with me, without me explaining what that was, but it was just something about you that I knew, “That’s possible. Let’s try it.” You were so present, even at 11. I’ve worked with a few kids here, and child actors are very serious if they get into it at all. But you were always very present, but also just so bubbly, and full of life and energy and spirit.