Patrick Stoner: You really got off on playing a souped-up version of Ripley in ALIEN RESURRECTION, didn't you?
Sigourney Weaver: [laughs] You noticed? Oh, dear. Well, yes, I have to admit that I really enjoyed playing a character without the usual human restraints. I mean, she's an alien creation, or recreation -- WHATEVER she is -- and that's very freeing as an actress.
Stoner: Freeing, yes, but isn't it also a bit of a problem in creating a character? I mean, what do you draw on in yourself?
Weaver: Well, I know Ripley, remember. She's still in there. I began there. Then comes the freeing part: Here's a creature with nothing but attitude ...
Stoner: [laughs] ... the alien dominatrix.
Weaver: [laughs] Boy, isn't she?! She can dominate anybody. Still, she has a survival instinct and intelligence, and she finds herself in what is to her an alien world, surrounded by these humans. She's just coping with what is thrown at her, but she can throw things back damn hard [laughs].
Stoner: You CARE about this character, don't you?
Weaver: Well, I've lived with her a long time. We've been through a lot together. [laughs]
Stoner: How did you feel about the last movie, ALIEN 3?
Weaver: Let me put it this way: I think we got back on track with ALIEN RESURRECTION. One of the things lost the last time out was the sense of a real alien presence. This time, you can feel, you can almost smell the presence of those creatures. Even when you can't see them, you know they're there. When you CAN see them, your skin crawls not only from the threat but from the "feel" of them. What makes these creatures so awful is the feeling that they can use us in ways too horrible to imagine -- and yet, we DO imagine them, which makes it worse than seeing it.
Stoner: Of course, you're more than an actress here. You also have producing credit, and that gives you more power. Are you developing Ripley's self-assurance?
Weaver: I WISH. No, I'm no Ripley. I had doubts that I could play her as strongly as she had to be played, but I must say that it was fun exploring that side of myself. Women don't get to do that very often.
Return to ALIEN RESURRECTION review.
