美国国家公共电台 NPR When The Kids Grow Up, Motherhood Becomes A State Of 'Otherhood'（在线收听）

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Mothers of sons may know the feeling when their little boy isn't so little anymore and feels far away. That's what drives the new film "Otherhood." Three longtime friends have sons who grew up together, moved to New York and, well, don't call as often as they should. So the moms take a trip in an attempt to reconnect, and things don't go quite as smoothly as they hoped. Angela Bassett stars as one of the mothers, Carol, whose husband has recently passed away. Bassett, acclaimed for her roles in films like "Malcolm X," "What's Love Got To Do With It" and "Black Panther," says that over the course of this movie, her character comes to understand otherhood.

ANGELA BASSETT: We say otherhood is that stage after motherhood. Her husband has passed away. She was a wife. Her son has gone off. She was a mother. And while they were growing together, she, in an essence, you know, as women do sometimes, nurtured them, put herself on the back burner, her desires. And it's about getting back to that, if you can, you know, once they've gone on.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I want to play a clip from the movie now where Carol has just been out on the town after crashing her son's work party - yeah, that happened. And she's getting some late night pizza with her friends when the topic of aging comes up. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "OTHERHOOD")

PATRICIA ARQUETTE: (As Gillian Lieberman) By the way, you have incredible new beauty products.

FELICITY HUFFMAN: (As Helen Haston) Yeah, it's all anti-aging.

BASSETT: (As Carol) Why is everyone anti-aging? You know what's anti-aging? Death. Let's be happy we're aging.

ARQUETTE: (As Gillian Lieberman) Yeah.

HUFFMAN: (As Helen Haston) Yeah.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You will turn 61 in August, and I have to tell you, in this film, when you put on that dress for that party, you look like you could be the man (ph) who plays your son's girlfriend. You look amazing.

BASSETT: (Laughter).

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, extraordinary. And I normally don't talk about the way women look, but do you think in this era of #MeToo and a lot of the discussions that have been happening in Hollywood around women, around pay equity, that the stigma against aging for women in Hollywood has changed at all or not?

BASSETT: I think it feels as if it's expanded a little bit. I remember when first coming to to Hollywood it seemed like 40 was the death nail age (laughter). And I don't feel that so much anymore. You know, it felt as if you, you know, had to be that ingenue forever. You couldn't - I mean, having a family, getting - becoming pregnant was a stigma. Forty was a stigma. I think it's relaxed a bit. And what we see on the screen is more entertaining when we see what life really looks like.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I want to ask you about race. You've been outspoken about the fact that your own kids have confronted racism and that word, as you know, has been in the news lately. How do you navigate this climate right now as a mother and as a black woman and as a person with a big voice?

BASSETT: You know, it's interesting. It's not easy. It's - sometimes you feel a little bit schizophrenic, you know, because when I grew up you remember the history. It's not too far from separate this, that and other thing. And now with my kids growing up, they don't have that same sense that I have. But yet sometimes the ugliness of it does pop up. So you're trying to educate them that it does exist and give them the history of. And at the same time, you're not trying to put a thing on them. You want them to accept people as they come to you and as they present themselves, you know, and give folks a chance.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Your co-star in this movie Felicity Huffman has pled guilty to her involvement in a college admissions scandal. And I'm wondering your reaction to that and if you've spoken to her since it happened.

BASSETT: No, I haven't spoken to her. Working on "Otherhood," that was my first opportunity to know her, to know her, to be around her. So I was very pleased to hear her statement of remorse. Of course, I understand that you'll throw yourself in front of a moving train for your kids. But also you always trying to be a good example for them. We're all - none of us perfect and have things that we've done that we wouldn't want anyone to know, probably. None of us are. But I'm so glad to see that she was remorseful and that she's willing to accept the consequences that come along with those actions.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'd like to also say that you are up for an Emmy. You have been nominated in the best narrator category for the film "The Flood" and you've never won an Emmy before. And if you win, you will be in the exclusive club of Emmy-winning couples. Your husband, of course, is Courtney B. Vance. You've been married for a quarter of a century. He has an Emmy already. And I guess it brought to mind this question, what makes a good marriage? Tell us your secret.

BASSETT: Oh, child.

(LAUGHTER)

BASSETT: Oh, marry the right person. That's the secret (laughter). Marry someone who understands what you're doing, allows you to be you. Say follow your muse.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Angela Bassett's new movie is "Otherhood."

Thank you very much.

BASSETT: Oh, thank you.