She looks incredible in a bikini at age 60, can spontaneously perform Shakespearean monologues, and has played both Tina Turner and the Queen Mother in Marvel’s first black superhero blockbuster.
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But Angela Bassett’s latest role may be our favorite. National Geographic Channel somehow enlisted the star to narrate its nature documentary The Flood, and, frankly, Bassett’s seductive yet suspenseful voice-over made this writer feel like a natural woman.
No word on when we can catch the full length version, but set in Botswana’s Okavango Delta in Africa, Nat Geo’s cameras follow a leopard as she stalks and ultimately pounces on a herd of impala. We’re not sure whether Bassett is intending to channel the leopard, but the overall effect is “rawr…”
Of course, this isn’t Bassett’s first collaboration with National Geographic; in 2015, she directed Water Apocalypse for the channel, focusing on the world’s water crisis.
But this latest appearance for the network is pretty exceptional, as well—if only because Bassett’s acting style and appeal make an otherwise barbaric nature scene a borderline sensual thriller.
Oh, and as Vulture pointed out, be sure to listen for her pronunciation of “impala.” It’s epic.
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