Angela Bassett Held Austin Butler's Hand During His Oscars Category: 'I Understood Intimately What He Felt'
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Angela Bassett and Austin Butler both received acting nominations at March's 95th Academy Awards
Angela Bassett was there for Austin Butler at an important moment in his career.
On Thursday, Bassett, 64, wrote a piece about her friendship with Elvis star Butler, 31, as part of TIME's 100 Most Influential People of 2023 series, noting that she held hands with the actor at the 95th Academy Awards as the award for Best Actor was presented.
In the piece, Bassett revealed that she and Butler first met this past awards season, and said she was "fortunate" to become his friend as she complimented his "brilliantly nuanced performance" in Elvis.
As the pair were seated together at March's Oscars ceremony, "I understood intimately what he felt when it was time to learn if he would climb those stairs to the stage," Bassett wrote in TIME. "So, I took his hand and held it softly as the winner was announced."
Ultimately, Butler did not win the award: Brendan Fraser was named Best Actor for his performance in The Whale.
Related:Exes Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens Seen Outside Same Oscars 2023 Party
Bassett added in the piece that Butler is "no less a winner" after awards season's end, as the actor moves on from his star-making role as Elvis Presley.
"I can't wait to see what he brings us next," she wrote.
The actors' moment together during the Oscars received attention across the internet, as television cameras briefly captured the pair holding hands as the Best Actor winner was announced.
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Bassett also appeared on TIME's 100 Most Influential People list with a tribute from Tina Turner, whom she portrayed in an Oscar-nominated role for 1993's What's Love Got to Do with It.
The actress received her second career Oscar nomination for her performance in 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, though Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Supporting Actress as Everything Everywhere All at Once dominated the ceremony.
As Bassett wrote in TIME, audiences will soon get to see Butler's first big screen performance post-Elvis in the upcoming Dune: Part Two, in which the actor is set to portray villain Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen.
Aside from that, Butler will appear alongside fellow Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan in the Apple TV+ World War II miniseries Masters of the Air and appears to have two more movies in the works, according to his IMDb profile.
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