Today, actress Sigourney Weaver, will receive the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. Deadline sat down and spoke to Sigourney Weaver about her life’s work.
In the wide-ranging interview, Weaver reminisces about her time on Ridley Scott’s Alien, transitioning to an action hero in Aliens and the trouble David Fincher had on Alien 3.
Ripley in James Cameron’s Aliens
Deadline asks her if she will ever return as Ellen Ripley in a new Alien film. Weaver says she would consider it if it came up and it has come up in the past but she has been busy with other projects.
DEADLINE: Cameron said recently “no one ever dies in science fiction.” Is there a future for Ellen Ripley on screen?
WEAVER: I feel like she’s never far away from me, but on the other hand I have yet to read a script that said “you have got to do this.” So for me, she is in this other dimension, safe from the Alien for the time being. I don’t really think about it, but you know, it’s not completely impossible, and certainly a lot of good filmmakers are inspired by the material.
How much does the public really need or want another Ripley movie? I don’t really sit around and think about it, but if it came up, I would consider it. It has come up a bunch of times, but I’m also busy doing other things. Ripley has earned her rest.
DEADLINE: What do you make of Alien: Romulus? Did you see it and was there ever a discussion that Ripley may appear in it (I’m aware Fede Álvarez has said the timeline wouldn’t work for Ripley to be in it)?
WEAVER: There wasn’t a discussion about Ripley being in it. I haven’t seen the new film. I might end up seeing it … I wish them all the best for it…
Sigourney Weaver says she has just finished filming Avatar 3 this month and she is looking forward to taking part in the fourth and fifth films when they are made.
Thanks to Nightmare Asylum for the news.
Wow look at you! Impressive.
But...
You're not in the least bit concerned that for every new species (alien or not) discovered, there's always a Latin name for it? That's always been my first concern. ;-)
Oh yeah, that's an Internecivus raptus. And that over there looks like it must be a vial of some Plagiarus praepotens.
(Appreciate the lesson. Who knew?)
FTFY
The second part of a binomial name, known as the species epithet, is never capitalized because it follows the grammatical conventions of Latin, where adjectives and common nouns are typically not capitalized unless they are proper nouns.
https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExMGkxYzhsNHJpM255d3Z3bjE3aXJ4czdqNmhya2U1M2wxZXp1Y2J1cyZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/KpRoZeI2dLhf2/giphy.webp
Plagiarus Praepotens really dials up the stakes on an earth infestation though. If it were just traditional aliens of old, those could be wiped with some effort, but if literally every animal could be contaminated with black goo, I don't see a way to fix that, short of Engineers just snapping Thakor fingers and saying, let it stop.
Yes but not entirely. It would be a way for many fans, hardcore and casual to connect with beloved characters. It is obvious that there is not enough interest in continuing the story post-Resurrection. The same goes for Alien 3. So continuing after Aliens on a different tangent makes sense. The Verheiden story is rich in its broad strokes. It would be incredible if we got to see an earth infestation and then the engineers come and save the world, but for their own purposes. I think it's also very important to be respectful of the Maestro, James Cameron's work.
LOL
Why do you hate elephant man?
That's "the best thing"?
Brand confusion and all.
Yeah, I agree. Let Ripley rest...
As is this bugger but relatively speaking the the numbers of buggers interested is hovering a smidge above zero.
Which they still could I suppose. Hopefully not. The way to do it properly would be post-Resurrection but no bugger's interested in that.
Plus I don't know if it's more or less desperate looking to bring Sigourney Weaver back before or after Alien now has a positive foothold in modern periphery.
I can imagine the Red Letter Media guys howling with laughter at the thought.
A3 didn't have to do the same to her co-survivors.
John Davis and/or Shane Black (let's be honest, probably John Davis) beg to differ.
Its easier to do with the Predator survivors though.
Ripley comes back and in the new movie, the first scene shows her jumping into the flames in the end of Alien3. She wakes up after reaching the flames, it was all a dream. Hicks and Newt are there.
Whoa, I am surprisingly into this. Take my money! Especially if Ripley kicks his ass LOL.
I think a movie where Ripley gets to finally learn what's actually going on would be nice.
https://i.redd.it/qdhkyrinpwn71.jpg
No Alien nostalgia Sigourney 74 years old
Admitting Ripley was right about Hadley's Hope is also admitting she was right about the Nostromo, you can imagine how that would create problems for them.
David, the one most responsible for Ripley#8's memories of misery, and Ripley #8 representing a union of David's creators and creation. In the right hands, with the right writer, that would be compelling.
Wonder if disney did try to pitch something of their own.
Don't understand how this squares with that.
Hill told me directly she read it and liked it. I don't know about those reports or rumours. Giler's name will be there because he and Hill were still close, I think he was doing David a favour; they are decades-long friends, and I know Giler went to bat for Hill on the original ALIEN.
Out of curiosity, any reason why Giler's name was on the treatment alongside Hill's like that if he didn't contribute to writing it at all? Was it an obligation based on his previous long-term producing role with the franchise through Brandywine?
https://theronin.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/alien-5_script_walter-hill_david-giler_.jpg?w=860
Giler never wrote this. He had been living in Thailand, retired. Weaver wanted Blomkamp's Alien 5 to happen. When it didn't, she was annoyed. She expressed this to Hill over dinner. He pitched a story and then went off to write about 50 pages. He showed it to Sigourney, who liked it. It was then sent to Fox, who sent it back unread. So Hill and Weaver moved on.
The source is trust me, bro. But trust me
Wait... I thought it was Sigourney that wouldn't even look at Hill & Giler's treatment, because she was disappointed (at the time, seemingly less so anymore based on this new interview) that Blomkamp's didn't happen and didn't want to bother with a different version?
Is there something more to this?
She was up for it; she was so disappointed it never happened she and Walter Hill wrote a treatment for Alien 5. Fox wouldn't even look at it, then sold it all to Disney.
Everything that needed to be said about the character was in the first two films.
WY would just throw Burke under the bus because it really was just one random director acting alone.
Together with testimony by Hicks, Bishop and Newt, I think they'd be okay. Especially since the company would already have their fall guy in the posthumous form of Burke. Case closed.