She’s survived xenomorphs, busted ghosts, lived among the gorillas, and co-starred in the top-grossing blockbuster of all time — and soon she’ll have a Golden Lion. Screen icon Sigourney Weaver, whose stately grace and steely will have captivated filmgoers for nearly 50 years, will be awarded the Venice Film Festival‘s top honor for lifetime achievement at the event’s glamorous 81st opening ceremony. But first, the three-time Oscar nominee met the international press in Venice on Wednesday afternoon for a wide-ranging conversation about her career and the art of cinema.
Within the first five minutes of the sit-down, Weaver was brought to tears by a female journalist’s personal thank you for her pioneering performances as strong women characters — most notably, as the heroine Ripley in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror classic Alien — which shifted perceptions in the industry about the kinds of parts women could play and empowered female viewers everywhere.
Asked whether she thinks her work might even have played a part in “mak[ing] it possible that a woman like Kamala Harris could become President of the United States,” Weaver said she “loved the question” because “we’re all so excited about Kamala, and to think for one moment that my work would have anything to do with her makes me very happy.”
“Because it’s true,” Weaver added, “I have so many women who come up and thank me.” Growing emotional, she paused and opened a bottle of water, joking that she needed her “vodka” to regain her composure.
Weaver continued by saying that what she appreciated most about the character of Ridley, created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, was that she “was a person, not a woman.”
“You don’t see her having to be girly or womanly, or any of these other ideas — which are also great, because women can be everything — but I got to play what I realized was a simply a person,” she continued.
“I take my inspiration from what I see as actual woman,” she added, noting how women are often on the front lines of fighting crises like climate change, as well as caring for families. She added that she finds it “weird” when she’s asked why she “always plays strong women.”
“I just play women — and women are strong,” Weaver said. “And women don’t give up. You know why? Because we can’t. We have to do it.”
Inarguably one of the most acclaimed and versatile actors of her generation, Weaver made her screen debut in a supporting part in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall in 1977 — but she announced herself to the world just two years later in that unforgettable lead of Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979). She received her first Oscar nomination for the franchise’s sequel, Aliens (1986), with two additional noms following shortly after — for her roles as primatologist Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and a young associate in Mike Nichols’ Working Girl (1988). She has continued brake barriers and transcended budgets and genres throughout her career, from big-budget action franchises (Alien, Avatar), drama (The Year of Living Dangerously, The Ice Storm), thriller (Copycat), comedy (Ghostbusters, Galaxy Quest), biopics (Gorillas in the Mist) and arthouse drama (Rampart, Master Gardner).
Weaver will next be seen in Bryan Fuller’s horror comedy Dust Bunny and Scott Derrickson’s sci-fi actioner The Gorge as well as James Cameron’s much anticipated Avatar sequels.
Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera will present Weaver with her Golden Lion trophy shortly before the festival officially kicks off with the world premiere of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Catherine O’Hara, Willem Dafoe and Justin Theroux.
In the days to come in Venice, the festival’s lineup of master classes and conversations will include public sitdowns with Weever, Australian director Peter Weir, actor-director Ethan Hawke, Italian filmmaker Pupi Avati, Hollywood icon Richard Gere, Oscar-winning composer Nicola Piovani (Life Is Beautiful) and French director Claude Lelouch (A Man and a Woman).