Angela Bassett says she will step into the character of Tina Turner for the 1993 biopic What does love have to do with it it was both physically and emotionally demanding, especially since it recreated the more tragic parts of the late music icon’s life.
Bassett played Turner, who died in 2023 at the age of 83, in the Brian Gibson-directed film alongside Laurence Fishburne, who played the “Proud Mary” singer’s longtime musical partner and serial abuser, Ike Turner.
“It’s not a time to play or act. You gauge part of your spirit in the portrait when you really connect,” Bassett, 65, says in this week’s PEOPLE cover story about the graphic scenes.
Tina and Ike, who died of a cocaine overdose in December 2007, were married in 1962 and separated 16 years later. After their split, Tina was honest and public about the years of abuse she suffered from Ike.
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Bassett says Fishburne, 62, was often her advocate on the set of the biopic as they shot violent scenes — a process that sometimes took 16 hours a day.
“I was a beginner on the scene, I don’t have that much influence or so,” she recalls. “But I had an advocate who would join me and we would say, in a firm and delicate way, ‘We’ve got him.’
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Bassett particularly remembers shooting a harrowing scene in the movie when Ike chokes Tina, pushes her against the fish tank and rapes her. “To show the particular violence of rape was just emotionally draining and would be for anyone,” says Bassett.
In the second scene, Ike “knocked” Tina over the back of the couch. “I literally wailed, cried for 16 hours, whether I was on or off screen for my actors,” says Bassett. “I probably wouldn’t do it today. But during that time we were so committed through fire.”
Angela Bassett entered What does love have to do with it.
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Despite the difficulty of filming What does love have to do with itwhich brought Bassett her first Oscar nomination, the actress calls the film “a real turning point in my life. And during filming, I knew it had the potential to change my life and could change the trajectory of my career.”
Following her second Oscar nomination for Black Panther: Wakanda ForeverBassett was awarded an honorary Oscar in January, an experience she shared with her family by her side.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or go to thehotline.org. All calls are free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the crisis line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
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Source: HIS Education