Angela Bassett is dying to play a 'bad, bad character' after Queen Ramonda in 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'

• Angela Bassett is up for an Oscar for her powerful performance in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."
• Bassett told Insider she'd love her next major role to be a change of pace: a "bad, bad character."

Angela Bassett is craving a change of pace after portraying the virtuous Queen Ramonda in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."

The actor, who won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress for her powerful performance in the Marvel blockbuster, wants to flex her creative muscles in a darker role, she told Insider at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Thursday.

"I'd love to play a role that isn't good — a bad, bad character," she told Insider.

Bassett actually got to do a little of that when her newest project, the Netflix film "Damsel" arrives on the streaming service this October. The movie follows Princess Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown), who agrees to marry Prince Henry (Nick Robinson), only to learn too late it was a trap: she's actually a sacrifice to the kingdom's dragon to repay an ancient debt.

Bassett, who joined a cast that also included Robin Wright and Shohreh Aghdashloo, described the experience as "refreshing."

"It was wonderful to explore a different kind of character whose motivations were driven from a more inward selfishness," Bassett explained. "I'm more used to roles where the characters are either selfless or at least have good intentions."

The actor was honored at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival with the Montecito Awards, and during a lengthy Q&A onstage with the festival's executive director Roger Durling, she reflected on many of her most memorable performances.

During her 36-year acting career, she's portrayed a wide range of characters, from her Oscar-winning turn as Tina Turner in "What's Love Got to Do With It" to Sargeant Athena Grant in the ongoing series "9-1-1."

Her sensational performance as Turner, alongside Laurence Fishburne as Ike Turner, for instance, proved extremely draining, both emotionally and physically.

"We would do the rape scene, and, we were doing things over and over, and it's such a debasing sort of feeling," Bassett recalled. "Laurence would say, 'Angela, how many times do you want to do this?' Because director Brian Gibson would listen to him before he would listen to me, He didn't listen to this female voice, this Black female voice who's just getting a shot, but there's something about that male-male dynamic."

Although Bassett said she would perform the scene five times, she added, "I'll do it until we get it."

Bassett ended her onstage conversation discussing the significance of her Oscar-nominated work, playing Queen Ramonda in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." If Bassett wins best supporting actress this year, she'll be the first actor to ever win an Oscar for a performance in a Marvel movie. (She already made history by earning Marvel its first-ever acting nomination.)

While an Oscar win would surely be another major milestone in an already illustrious career, Bassett contended the impact the films have made on audiences, particularly Black audiences, has been "really satisfying."

"That representation that I longed for as a young actor coming up, to be given the opportunity to offer that is a dream come true," she explained. "It's a full-circle moment."