Angela Bassett plays older woman in love with younger man in 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back.'

Jet, August 17, 1998

The story of the May-December romance gets a new take as Angela Bassett finds herself hopelessly in love with a man 20 years her junior in the comedy/drama How Stella Got Her Groove Back.

The movie is based on the best-selling novel by Terry McMillan, who also helped write the screenplay. The story is loosely based on McMillan's own personal experiences.

In the film, Bassett is Stella Payne, a super-successful San Francisco stockbroker who is 40, very attractive, in great physical shape and a single mother with almost no social life. Beyond her work with a high-profile company, she spends most of her time being a devoted mother to her son, Quincy (Michael J. Pagan).

While watching television, she happens to see a really seductive ad about vacations in Jamaica. Her best friend Delilah (Whoopi Goldberg) talks her into dropping everything (her son is visiting his father) and head off to the sun. The two women find all kinds of men to occupy their days and nights.

Stella finds a 20-year-old hunk who is trying to figure out what to do with his life. Winston Shakespeare (Taye Diggs) may or may not be heading to medical school soon. He just has to sort things out for the summer.

Sure, the initial traction is purely physical. Stella may be 40 years old, but she has a body to die for. She is in top shape after years of jogging every day. Bassett shows off her amazing abs in colorful, sexy bathing suits and midriff-displaying outfits that wow all the men around.

And Diggs isn't too shabby, either. His well-chiseled body attracts as many women's eyes as Stella does for the boys. The two quickly discover that they really are attracted to each other on an emotional and intellectual level as well as a physical one. The only variable that keeps cropping up is that 20-year age gap. Winston is fine with it, but Stella feels guilty about being attracted to a man who could easily be her son. Winston's parents (Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Glynn Turman), especially his mother, are dead set against it.

Stella's sisters Vanessa and Angela (Regina King and Suzzanne Douglas) have opposite views on it. Vanessa figures Stella should go for it while Angela sees her sister making a fool of herself.

"She's very concerned about what this 20-year-old sees in her," Bassett said. "She realizes that when she's 50, he'll only be 30. She wonders if he'll still be in love with her. So, she's very cautious."

Bassett pointed out that society views this type of relationship "differently. People like birds of a feather to stick together. If you see an older woman and a younger man, you may wonder, `Is that her son? Is that her brother? What is be getting out of the relationship?' People assume what she's getting out of it is his energy. People tend to think sexually. Perhaps he's taking advantage of her. She's more stable financially."

After having played Tina Turner, Katharine Jackson and Betty Shabazz, Bassett said she enjoyed playing what she called an "everyday" woman. "Stella is a mother, an ex-wife, a hard worker and generous. Stella's also very creative, but she lets that part of herself go by the wayside because bills need to be paid; she wants to provide the best for her son, works hard on her job, and is always there for her sisters. But, she evolves through her relationship with Winston."

Kevin Rodney Sullivan, who directed the film, said of Bassett: "Angela as an artist is all 88 keys. She's a virtuoso, and I'm astounded by her range, depth and ability to bring so many nuances to the role. When I ask her for chartreuse, she gives me chartreuse. When I ask her for lavender with peach highlights, she gives me exactly that."

Regina King, who starred for many years in the NBC sitcom "227" and was featured in the hit film Jerry Maguire, said working with Bassett and Douglas was very, very positive. "I really had a ball working with them," she said. "It's been a lot of fun."

Douglas said that ultimately age cannot always be the sole factor in a relationship. "We see that Winston brings Stella joy, hope, spontaneity and love. He breaks us down and reveals this wonderful human being inside this boy's body. And he breaks Stella down the same way."

Diggs, who makes his film debut in Stella, said of his character: "He starts out a single guy in Jamaica trying to figure out what he wants to be. And because of their relationship, his life begins to take a different turn."

Diggs, a 26-year-old graduate of Syracuse University, was in the hit Broadway musical Rent when he heard he'd gotten the role of Winston. "When I found out that I got the part, I wanted to find a way to relay to my friends and my co-actors how excited I was. So, I took off all my clothes and streaked around the theater, screaming at the top of my lungs, `I got the part! I got the part!'"