Sigourney Weaver at 70

[selenak]

The great Sigourney Weaver turns 70 today. Like a great many viewers, I first encountered her as Ripley in Alien, and ensuing sequels. Think about the four movies of the franchise as you will - my own takes are on Alien and Aliens here and on Alien³ and Alien: Resurrection here -, I think there can be general agreement that SW never brought less than her A-Game. She made Ripley so intensely memorable that you believed every moment with her in it, no matter whether she faced outsized monsters or human greed - or her own humanity. Or saved her cat. There are so many iconic Ripley scenes; one that stuck deepest with me doesn't feature, strictly speaking, Ellen Ripley, but Ripley8 from Alien: Resurrection, in the sequence where she finds out what the number on her means. Trigger warning for massive body horror, but it's what Weaver does with her face that makes it so visceral to me:

"Alien: Resurrection - Cloning Chamber (HD)" (Watch on YouTube)

She's a superb comedienne as well - in Working Girl, for example, and wonderfully so in Galaxy Quest. Gwen de Marco speaks for all of us here:

"GalaxyQuest - "WHOEVER WROTE THIS EPISODE SHOULD DIE!"" (Watch on YouTube)

(This episode is badly written!" is what I constantly want to say about the present, but alas...)

Lastly, some funny interview moments:

"18 amazing moments with Sigourney Weaver" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[ffutures]

I really can't think of any bad roles for her, and she's made a hell of a lot of films and had some very strange roles; for example, in the black comedy Heartbreakers she and her daughter are con-women who specialise in marrying rich men and divorcing them for large profits, which leads to her pretending to be a Russian emigrant in Florida, only slightly phased when her boyfriend gets her up on stage to sing at a Russian nightclub...

https://youtu.be/OfS-9HVRoF8

[selenak]

That's a wonderful scene and yes, she's superb in it!

[kore]

Wow, 70! She is amazing. Also she and Gillian Anderson need to do something together stat.

[selenak]

That would be a dream team!

[shadowkat]

This episode is badly written!" is what I constantly want to say about the present, but alas...)


While I've moved on to ..."Whoever wrote this episode should die".

[And yes, wholeheartedly agree on Sigourney Weaver -- she is one of those actresses that I had a tendency to follow around. I adored the fact that she was a big-boned six foot.]

[copracat]

There was a period in my life where I watched Aliens and played the board game. Happy days.

[watervole]

I so need go watch Galaxy Quest again!

[maidenjedi]

I was watching her in Working Girl yesterday. I love watching her as a queen bee, it works really well (and honestly, that film holds up far better than I would have thought it might). Need to do a Galaxy Quest re-watch, she is amazing in it.