Two acting queens met up after 16 years, thanks to a new interview. On Friday, Vanity Fair shared the moment that Keke Palmer and Angela Bassett reunited after starring as mother and daughter in 2006’s Akeelah and the Bee.
“I’ve seen you online imitating me,” Bassett said with a laugh. “You do a great job.”
“It’s one of my most notable impressions,” Palmer responded. “It’s so funny, Queen Latifah used to have me do it all the time. I used to do it only for her. I just recently started doing it online and everything… She’s like, ‘Do Angela.’”
Bassett then asked Palmer to do the impression for her. “I can’t believe this. This is insane,” Palmer said. “I’ll do your incredible performance in [The Jacksons: An American Dream] where Catherine catches her husband cheating on her.”
Palmer started doing the impression as Bassett joined in before the two started laughing. “And that line was improvised!” said Bassett.
Palmer explained to the legendary actress that she had watched films like What’s Love Got to Do With It and The Jacksons: An American Dream multiple times as a child: “You were the most iconic thing to me in both of those films, obviously,” Palmer told Bassett. “I think it took years for me to know who the real Tina Turner was, because in my mind it was you.”
Bassett told Palmer she first saw her do the impression on Instagram: “I looked and of course, it was like, hearts, hearts, hearts, hearts. I love it. I adore it.”
Palmer did the impression of Bassett while appearing on The Queen Latifah Show in 2013 as Latifah and Palmer giggled as the Nope star explained “it’s all in the lips.”
During the interview, Palmer pitched Basset the idea of the two playing a mother-daughter duo from Heartbreakers. “Have you ever seen this movie called Heartbreakers? It’s an old movie with Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt,” Palmer said. “They’re a mother and daughter duo. And they are secretly scamming a bunch of men. And I would love for us to redo a version of this movie.”
“Oh, I taught you everything you know! But then you upped the game because, you know, it’s all digital and stuff,” responded Bassett with a laugh.
“I just think we would kill something like that!” said Palmer. “I think we would,” added Bassett.
