Why Sigourney Weaver was surprised by ‘Alien’: “I never saw myself as a heroine”
The career of Sigourney Weaver began on the theatrical stage with appearances in productions such as The Frogs and Beyond Therapy. After a small part in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, Weaver was shot into stardom when she appeared in the lead role in Ridley Scott’s iconic 1979 science fiction movie Alien.
Alien tells the crew of a commercial spaceship called the Nostromo that investigates a derelict ship on the journey back to Earth. They soon find themselves terrorised by an invincible and deadly extra-terrestrial and battle to escape alive. Weaver plays Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley, who has a fateful hand in the future of the film franchise.
In an interview with Bobbie Wygant, Weaver was asked whether or not she had wished that she was “eased in” to acting in feature films rather than being thrown headfirst into something that made such a significant impact so early in her career and taking on more minor roles first, building up to a star performance.
“Well, I must say when I read the script, I thought, ‘Well, this certainly wasn’t what I had in mind when I thought of eventually moving into films,’” the actor began. “I always thought I would sort of work my way up in small roles and play a lot of character parts. I’ve never played a heroine before, you know.”
With that in mind, Weaver admitted that she didn’t actually play Ripley as a heroine but rather threw her own spin on the characters. “I didn’t play her that way; I didn’t mean to. I didn’t get out my heroine book and go through it or anything. I had a different idea of what would happen.”
However, once Weaver started getting into the role, she began to believe that she could indeed be a leading actor in a movie, even though Scott’s movie is “a very technical film and relationships are not the focus.”
She said: “The relationships have to be understood and played but through the action of the film. That was very challenging.”
With “so much to think about”, Weaver felt that she didn’t actually have to think about her options from an acting sense. “I felt very at home in the character,” she continued. “Who I think is very different from me. My reaction in the same situation would probably be to make terrible jokes a lot. I wouldn’t come through in the same way that Ripley does.”
