Sigourney Weaver appreciation thread

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I am a huge, slobbering fan of Ms....



Since she burst onto the scene as the unlikely heroine of Alien (1979), Sigourney has been a force to be reckoned with, unique and unforgettable...and not just because of the final confrontation with the title beastie in her undies (though that didn't hurt in burning her into my mind)...




Hubba-hubba.

The Alien series eventually ran out of steam and clear inspiration by the fourth flick, but by that time she had fashioned a full career for herself. Equally adept at drama, action and comedy, she consistently challenges herself year after year, and has built an impressive body of work in the process. Probably more varied and impressive than many casual fans realize.




Right after Alien, she starred in Peter Yates' improbable but effective conspiracy thriller Eyewitness (1981) with William Hurt and Christopher Plummer, instantly proving to movie fans she was more than just a sci-fi action figure. Then Peter Weir cast her opposite Mel Gibson in the political romance The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), and again she increased her range. Billy Friedkin's misfire of a would-be satire Deal of the Century (1983) with a miscast Chevy Chase was her first attempt at big screen comedy, but that dud was very quickly erased when her next movie, Ghostbusters (1984), showed she could definitely hold her own sharing the screen with a top-flight comedian like Bill Murray. Her strong presence and cheeky chemistry in that blockbuster showed yet another layer of her talent. Next, the multi-lingual Weaver starred in a modern French farce with Gerard Depardieu, One Woman or Two (1985) - not very funny I don't think (though I haven't seen it in a long time), but an understandable challenge to undertake. Jim Cameron mounted the adreniline-fueled sequel Aliens (1986), which became a huge hit and even garnered Sigourney her first Oscar nomination, as Best Lead Actress (Marlee Matlin won for Children of a Lesser God). Coupled with the overwhelming financial success of Ghostbusters, Aliens gave her some real freedom and even a bit of power in the industry.



But rather than play it safe with big-budgeted Hollywood junk that must have been sent to her in droves, she opted to keep looking for different kinds of roles and films. Half Moon Street (1986) is an impossible love story between Sigourney's Professor turned Call Girl and Michael Caine's English politician. Wrapped up in a convoluted mystery and international intrigue, Sigourney gives a fine performance, making this improbable character seem quite vivid. Then she became controversial doomed anthropologist Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist (1988), a knockout emotional performance, and her on-screen communion with the gorillas is beautiful to watch. Also released that year in a performance that couldn't be more different, Weaver was the calculating corporate villainess in Mike Nichols' romantic comedy Working Girl (1988). When the Oscar nominations were announced, Sigourney was one of the few actors in Academy history to be nominated for two films simultaneously: Best Actress for Gorillas, and Best Supporting Actress for Working Girl (though she won neither, losing to Jodie Foster in The Accused and Geena Davis in The Accidental Tourist, though she won Golden Globes for both roles).



Next she signed on for a couple sequels of the movies that made her a star: Ghostbusters 2 (1989) and Alien³ (1992). Reuniting with Ivan Reitman and crew for another outing of battles with the paranormal was less successful than the original, though it did generate a healthy boxoffice and her chemistry and verbal sparring with Murray was still a treat to behold. Alien³, directed by David Fincher, was an OK B-movie, but while the film looked great, the ideas felt neutered, and Weaver's Ripley was a much weaker character overall. Very disappointing after the first two installments.

All through the '80s, she continued to return to the Broadway stage, where she had shined in the '70s before Alien made her an instant movie star. She even co-wrote the successful Das Lusitania Songspiel with friend Christopher Durang, which got her a prestigious Drama Desk Award nomination. She was nominated for her first Tony for her co-starring work in David Rabe's Hurlyburly in 1985.




But back to her film career. After what is essentially a cameo in the Christopher Columbus flick 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) which reunited her with director Ridley Scott and Gerard Depardieu, she went back to comedy with the sweet Dave (1993), where Kevin Kline's Presidential double falls in love with his estranged First Lady. Then came her most challenging and emotionally raw screen performance yet, when she signed on to star in the film adaptation of Death & the Maiden (1994), where a former political prisoner who was repeatedly and systematically raped believes she has accidentally captured her torturer one stormy night. Directed by Roman Polanski, Weaver gives a tour de force performance as the haunted, scarred woman who can now vindictively turn the tables on her abuser. How she wasn't Oscar nominated for this work still baffles me.

Death & the Maiden was generally missed when it was released in 1994, and hasn't even grown the kind of cult rep in the years since then that it deserves. Until the triumph of The Pianist, it was the only great movie Polanksi had made since the '70s. A tough movie to watch at times because of the subject matter and intensity of the performance, but Sigourney and Ben Kingsley are absolutely terrific. It's very much a one-set film, and you can tell it has stage roots even if you didn't know, but I think the way Polanski shot it is very cinematic, and the subtleties of performance by Weaver and Kingsley are things you can do on screen but generally have to make much bigger on stage.



After a small role in Jeffrey (1995) and starring in the disappointingly routine thriller Copycat (1995), Sigourney got the juicy supporting role of an icy suburban adulteress in Ang Lee's darkly comic The Ice Storm (1997), reuniting her with Kevin Kline in a completely different style than the lightweight Dave (their bedroom scene, where she cuts him off as he tries to unleash his problems, is one of the the highlights of this movie). In the made-for-cable "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" (1997) she played a truly wicked Queen in a grisly take on that fairy tale, but while she gave it her all and has a creepy good time, the resulting film is rather lackluster and far from what it might have been. Also released that year, the last of Ripley in Alien: Resurrection (1997), which again apart from a fantastic look (thanks to Jean-Pierre Jeunet), the movie is disappointing Sci-Fi that embarassingly carries the Alien brand name. Oh, well.



The Map of the World (1999), though rather routine melodrama, has a wonderful lead performance by Weaver, her best since Death & the Maiden, and is worth seeing for her work alone. That same year also saw a return to comedy and a bit of a spoofing of her Ripley persona with the very fun Galaxy Quest (1999), as a faded star of a long ago cancelled cut-rate TV program mistaken for a real interplanetary hero by needy aliens. Her cleavage and blonde wig should have gotten co-starring billing, and her comic timing was as sharp as ever.

Her first effort in the new century was supporting work in the total misfire of a comedy that is Company Man (2000) - don't worry, nobody else saw it either (nor should they). But, she was quite wonderful in the underseen dark comedy Heartbreakers (2001) as one half of a seductive mother/daughter team of con artists. Sigourney's impromptu singing of The Beatles "Back in the U.S.S.R." is a riot. In 2002 she was the heart of the no-budget indie comedy Tadpole, as the Step-M.I.L.F. object of obsession for a young, bright kid named Oscar. I defy you to watch the classic farce of the dinner scene that is the film's centerpiece and not be charmed by this little movie. One of my true favorites in the last few years. She was also quite good in the surprisingly effective and understated post-9/11 drama The Guys (2002) - which is also the first time she's worked with her husband of nearly twenty years, director Jim Simpson. And in 2003 she was the mean warden of Camp Green Lake in Disney's good adaptation of Louis Sachar's Holes (2003).



After a forgettable turn in the overhyped and forgettable The Villiage from M. Night Shyamalan, she turns in another very good performance in Imaginary Heroes, which got a limited arthouse run in early '05. The debut directorial effort of Dan Harris, it's Weaver's best performance since A Map of the World (1999), but unfortunately the movie itself is a bit of a let down. It's competently made, but only succeeds in feeling like an American Beauty meets Ordinary People wannabe.

Some of the moments ring true and on the whole the actors are all good (including Emile Hirsch, Michelle Williams and Jeff Daniels), but much more often than not the film is too self-consciously pretentious and tries too hard to be oddball, with all-too easy an ending after all the build-up. Until somebody comes along with a truly unique perspective, I think we could do without these tales of the darkness lurking beneath the calm surface of suburbia for a while. Everything Harris was saying here had been done better before, including another Sigourney Weaver picture in The Ice Storm (1997).



But as I say Sigourney is quite good, as a mother dealing with (or rather not dealing with) a family tragedy with blunt non-conformity and a return to the pot smoking of her youth. Her work is better than the corners the script keeps writing itself into, and her performance alone makes it worth a look. When it comes to video anyway.


While she's been in her share of duds, overall I love the choices she makes, and I always enjoy her on screen. I think she is one of the best but most underrated actresses of her generation. I feel sometimes she's taken for granted because of her success in the Alien series, which pigeonholes her a bit. But she's a very good actress with an impressive range. If you've never seen Death & the Maiden or Gorillas in the Mist or have forgotten how funny she is playing the foil in Working Girl, rent 'em some night and see what she can really do. She's more than just Ripley and Dana Barrett.



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i loved her in hearbreakers, ghostbusters and working girl...
she was great as the evil queen in snow white..
dave is one of my favorites...

she can do comedy and drama equally...one wonderful actress



A system of cells interlinked
Another phatty post by the pike.... Good work.

Holds, curious... Have you had a chance to sit down with Alien3 : The Assembly Cut? It brought a solidarity to the script that was not present in the original cut, and also added some stellar compositions at the beginning of the film. Wondering if the different (and more complete) cut had changed your mind about the film at all. I thought it was quite an improvement, myself. Also, I enjoy Weaver's performance in this film, as subdued as it is. I think it wonderfully showcased both hard-line hero we came to know from the first films and also showcased a more vulnerable side that we hadn't seen before.

Fincher has stated there is no way to "fix" the film to what he had wanted without starting all over again, but I believe this newer cut portrays more of what he wanted to get across...
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Originally Posted by Holden Pike
If you've never seen Death & the Maiden or Gorillas in the Mist or have forgotten how funny she is playing the foil in Working Girl, rent 'em some night and see what she can really do. She's more than just Ripley and Dana Barrett.
Thanks for a great post Pikey, I loved her in Death & the Maiden, as you said at times hard to watch.
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Originally Posted by Holden Pike
Death & the Maiden was generally missed when it was released in 1994, and hasn't even grown the kind of cult rep in the years since then that it deserves. Until the triumph of The Pianist, it was the only great movie Polanksi had made since the '70s. A tough movie to watch at times because of the subject matter and intensity of the performance, but Sigourney and Ben Kingsley are absolutely terrific. It's very much a one-set film, and you can tell it has stage roots even if you didn't know, but I think the way Polanski shot it is very cinematic, and the subtleties of performance by Weaver and Kingsley are things you can do on screen but generally have to make much bigger on stage.
I also really enjoyed Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon from the same period.



Originally Posted by Holden Pike
...Sigourney has been a force to be reckoned with, unique and unforgettable...and not just because of the final confrontation with the title beastie in her underwear (though that didn't hurt in burning her into my mind).



I'm not even going to say it…

Anyway, great post HP… Ms. Weaver kicks butt…
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I was basically going to say something along the lines of… regardless to the fact that my job requires me to pay grave attention to details…….

Oh, and also… leave it to Jrs. … again….



A system of cells interlinked
Holden:

RE: The Rep post. I am all about that as well, but saw the opportunity for a clever image joke... Call me tarzan!!!



chicagofrog's Avatar
history *is* moralizing
A Map of the World is a great great movie, thanx to her, right. it doesn't hurt Julianne Moore's in there either.
and that animal side of her in Alien 4... now i didn't like the movie too much, except the swimming Aliens, and especially not the last half an hour or so, but Sigourney 's performance, wow wow , she really looks dangerous, and attractive and and, wow.
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Wow, how did I miss this thread?

I agree, Siggy has such a broad range of talents. Of course, everyone knew her as Ripley, but what's amazing about her is she has taken on every type of role.

I guess I liked her best in Alien, perfect in Ghostbusters ... she always adds just the right touch, and never goes over the top. One movie not mentioned above was Copycats. Although the movie itself wasn't the best, I did like her portrayal. Although I have to say I love her best as a brunette. Found it hard to watch her as a blond in Galaxy Quest.



Can we try with real bullets now?
When I was younger I kept confusing Jamie Lee Curtis with Sigourney Weaver.

Am I the only one or are......................................umm, never mind
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Sigourney Weaver is an exceptional and underrated actress. I don't think I've ever seen a performance of hers that I didn't like. I thought she was excellent in The Ice Storm; she not only should have been nominated for the Oscar, but should have won. That was a missed opportunity by the Academy to award such a talented and versatile actress.





Sigourney has a guest appearance on the second season premiere of the ABC series "Eli Stone". She'll play a psychiatrist to the title character, who suffers from either visions or delusions after a near-death experience. That's this coming Tuesday, October 14th, at 10:00pm.

But while that's nice and all, the reason I mention it is because in interviews about the role she's mentioned that she would consider starring in a sitcom, opining, "I would consider a half hour comedy with a wonderful ensemble." Cool. Maybe after working with Tina Fey on Baby Mama she can get a regular gig on "30 Rock"?

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Because it's Ms Weaver and you wrote about one of my favourite actresses in a very passionate way, I will give you this positive rep, Pike. Good work.



Registered Creature
Sigourney is awesome.

She's aging nicely lol.