Sigourney Weaver’s favourite actor of all time: “He is like my idol”
Sigourney Weaver has had the pleasure of sharing the screen with some of the all-time greats. The Alien franchise allowed her to collaborate with the likes of Ian Holm, Charles Dance, Bill Paxton, and Winona Ryder, whereas the Ghostbusters series placed her next to comedy legends like Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Dan Ackroyd. She even makes a brief appearance in Annie Hall as a woman who goes on a date with Woody Allen.
Across her long and illustrious career, Weaver has met performers that many people would consider their heroes. As for her own personal favourites, she encountered one of those while working on an obscure 2001 romcom called Heartbreakers, which was directed by David Mirkin. Weaver is one of the main stars alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt and Gene Hackman, the latter of whom meant a lot to her.
“Well, he is like my idol,” the actor told IGN. “I just was so thrilled when I heard that he might even take the part… In fact, his name was mentioned when I first met David Mirkin and I never let him forget it because I think he’s so amazing. We had a great time.”
Heartbreakers features Weaver and Hewitt as Max and Page, a mother-daughter con-woman team who use romance to ensure their targets. They set their sights on William Tensy (Hackman), a wealthy widower whom they believe they can make fall in love with Max and write her into his fortune. The rest of the movie has a stacked cast, including Ray Liotta as another victim, Jason Lee as a boy who catches Page’s eye, Sarah Silverman and Zach Galifianakis as two of his friends, and Anne Bancroft as Max’s mentor. This was Bancroft’s final film role before her passing in 2005. Even its director has quite the pedigree; Mirkin was a showrunner for seasons five and six of The Simpsons, widely regarded as a golden era for the show.
One of Tensy’s main character traits is that he’s a heavy smoker, having made his money in tobacco and then gotten addicted to his own product. This habit repels Max in the movie, but it had quite the opposite effect in real life. “My main worry was when I was trying to think of ways in which I could make Gene Hackman unattractive, because he’s actually a very attractive guy,” Weaver confessed. “I thought I had to be repulsed and repelled by this man all the time. And I was sort of endowing him, you know as actors do, with all kinds of qualities.”
In the end, it took Hackman’s removable dentures to really put Weaver off him. “He walked in with his teeth, and every time he came near to kiss me he would… you know, the whole thing. It was so much more worse than anything I could ever imagine! It was great! He just went for it. You know, he’s just one of the greatest actors, and I was thrilled to work with him.”
Unfortunately for all involved, Heartbreakers was met with mixed reviews upon its release. This probably didn’t bother Weaver one bit, though. Her legacy as an icon of cinema was already secured, and this project gave her the opportunity to get to know one of her heroes, even if it did involve dealing with his gross false teeth.
