How Angela Bassett’s Pep Talks ‘Motivated’ Letitia Wright’s Scene-Stealing ‘Black Panther’ Performance
February 24, 2018How Angela Bassett's Pep Talks 'Motivated' Letitia Wright's Scene-Stealing 'Black Panther' Performance
Wright tells TooFab: "I'm just glad God used Angela to just bless me, man."
Letitia Wright pretty much steals every scene she's in in the hit Marvel movie "Black Panther." But stepping into the spotlight as Princess Shuri, the Wakandan tech nerd, shook her to the core at times.
That's when the 24-year-old British actress said she got an assist from her costar Angela Bassett. The Oscar-nominated legend played Queen Ramonda, Shuri and T’Challa's (star Chadwick Boseman) mom in the film.
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"There was a day in particular where I kept messing up. I had a hard day and I couldn't bring it," Wright told TooFab at a recent "Black Panther" press event. “I was finding it difficult and she was just like, 'Don't look at anybody else. Don't worry about what other people are thinking about you. Just look up to God and trust that God has given you talent and just lean on that."
"She just motivated me to trust in the talent that God gave to me and not to be shy about it," added Wright.
Wright, whose credits include "Black Mirror," "Humans" and the upcoming Steven Spielberg blockbuster "Ready Player One" said Bassett's pep talks gave her the confidence she needed to slay.
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"Anytime I would be all shy and timid and not want to say my lines loud enough and not want to bothered with my accent, she would be like, 'What are you doing? You have a light inside of you. Let it out,'" said Wright, who was born in Guyana and raised in London. "She did that, thankfully at the beginning of filming, so by the time I got to the Shuri scenes in the lab, my light was just ping, ping, ping. I'm just glad God used Angela to just bless me, man."
"Black Panther" is now playing in theaters.