Venice Film Festival 2024: Sigourney Weaver wins ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award
Actor and producer Sigourney Weaver took home the Golden Lion for ‘Lifetime Achievement’ at the 81st edition of Venice Film Festival on August 28th.
Venice Film Festival kicked off with the premiere of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Ahead of the screening of the long-awaited sequel, Weaver was awarded a Golden Lion in honour of her lengthy career in the business, with speeches provided by her previous collaborators James Cameron and Camille Cottin.
Since making her feature film debut in 1977, Weaver has appeared in some of the biggest franchises of all time. She starred as Ellen Ripley in the Alien series, played Dana Barrett in the Ghostbusters films and appeared as Dr. Grace Augustine in Avatar.
Along the way, she has taken home Golden Globes, a Grammy, and, now, a Golden Lion. “I’m sure I’m dreaming. Thank you for this jet fuel of encouragement,” Weaver enthused upon accepting the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award.
The actor also joked that she would be sitting the Golden statue down next to her on the plane. “It will be next to me in the gondola,” she added, “and my husband will have to get used to having it in bed with us.”
“An actress of the caliber of Sigourney Weaver has few rivals,” Venice Film Festival’s artistic director Alberto Barbera shared in a statement. “The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement is just recognition for a star who has built bridges between the most sophisticated art-house cinema and movies that engage with the public in a frank and original way,” he added, “all the while remaining true to herself.”
The award win follows the release of the latest instalment of the Alien franchise, Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus, which hit cinemas a couple of weeks ago. Weaver has not reprised her role as Ellen Ripley since starring in Alien Resurrection in 1997, but she hasn’t completely ruled out the possibility of returning to the franchise.
During a recent chat with Deadline, Weaver suggested that while she doesn’t “sit around and think about” returning to the role of Ripley, she would consider it for the right project. “It has come up a bunch of times,” she admitted, “but I’m also busy doing other things. Ripley has earned her rest.”
Alongside the first screening of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, this year’s Venice Film Festival schedule will premiere Todd Phillips’ highly-anticipated Joker sequel Folie à Deux, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, and Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, all of which are in competition.
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