UK/FILE: Hollywood star Sigourney Weaver says chances slim for 'Alien 5' and that at 56 she wants to 'keep moving' with her career

Record ID: 1486523

  • Title: UK/FILE: Hollywood star Sigourney Weaver says chances slim for 'Alien 5' and that at 56 she wants to 'keep moving' with her career
  • Date: 17th August 2006
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (FILE - JUNE 02, 1999) (REUTERS) WEAVER ARRIVING AT 'ALIEN' ANNIVERSARY SCREENING AT EGYPTIAN THEATER MOVIE POSTER AND LIFE-SIZE ALIEN CREATURE ALIEN CREATURE HUGGING WEAVER ON THE RED CARPET AS SHE SPEAKS TO REPORTERS
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2006 12:01
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAEYCDMK90MTHHGBC6Q1YPQIZII
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: At 56, actress Sigourney Weaver is showing no signs of slowing down. With three new films coming out this year, nothing seems to be able to stop the long-time Hollywood favourite. Not even a lifetime achievement award, which some could take to mean they have done their share for the world of cinema.
    "I hope that it's just supposed to encourage me to keep going," the actress told Reuters TV in London on Monday (August 14).
    "I've decided it won't make me feel like it's the end of my career but sort of a little boost to keep me carrying on. So, I'm delighted, I feel very honoured."
    Weaver was in London en-route to Scotland for the Edinburgh Film Festival where, in addition to receiving the lifetime achievement award, she will be presenting one of her new films, 'Snow Cake', and hosting a 'Reel Life' talk about her career.
    Her three-day stop over in London provided the star a chance to promote 'Snow Cake', in which she co-stars with British actor Alan Rickman.
    In the film Weaver plays an autistic woman, Linda, whose daughter dies in a car crash and Alan Rickman stars as a tight-lipped Englishman who helps her cope.
    The film jolts viewers out of their seats early on when a truck ploughs full-speed into Rickman's car, instantly killing a quirky hitchhiker girl he has just picked up.
    Wracked with guilt about the accident and weighed down by his own troubled past, Rickman's character Alex forms a strange bond with the girl's mother, a high functioning but emotionally erratic autistic named Linda.
    Weaver spent the better part of a year meeting people with autism to prepare for the role - an experience she said gave her a new view on the disorder.
    'Snow Cake', which contains both poignant and off-key moments, was directed by Marc Evans and written by first time screen-writer Angela Pell. Pell was inspired by her own autistic son Johnny, who like Weaver's character in the film loves to eat snow and bounce up and down on a trampoline.
    Many have naturally drawn parallels with 'Rain Man', the 1988 hit film starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, which set the standard for films on autism in Hollywood.
    Weaver said many of the families she spoke to prior to making 'Snow Cake' were enthusiastic about the making of a film that would show the condition in a more updated light.
    "You know, I think because it ('Rain Man') was the only thing about autism for so long, it's not so much what Hollywood thinks, it's like the character in the movie says: 'Oh, I know all about it, I saw the movie' and I think it is high time for there to be more material out there about the condition which is increasingly common," she said.
    If Hoffman's performance in 'Rain Man' won him many accolades - he won a Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of the autistic Raymond Babbitt - and made its mark on the actor, the one role that most audiences associate Weaver with is that of Warrant Officer Elen Ripley in the 'Alien' movies.
    Weaver made her breakthrough in Ridley Scott's 1979 blockbuster 'Alien' and reprised the role of Ripley in the 1986 sequel 'Aliens', in 1992 in 'Aliens 3' and again in 'Alien Resurrection' in 1997.
    Asked about bringing Ripley back to life once again, Weaver said the chances were 'slim', but like the latest film, she left the option open.
    "You know, we talk about it but it's not sort of the first thing on our agenda, we are both busy with other things. Not that we don't want to do it, it's just that the chances of us doing it are probably slim. I mean, I think it depends on so many things but I think sequels...I don't know...they have to be so original, I think, to be worth doing, and nobody wants to do it unless it's really going to be original," she said.
    And 'busy' is definitely a word that goes with the star, who, unlike many of the more mature female actors in Hollywood, has not complained about the lack of good script offers.
    "You know, on the one hand I think it's always hard for actors to find interesting roles, whether they are men or women or at any age but what I think you have to do is to look for interesting stories and then you can always make the role interesting because people are interesting. I think independent film has helped the situation and I think you know, you are an actor, just get out there and do what ever is coming up," she said, adding what seems to be the secret behind her long-lasting career; "I think it is best just to keep moving."
    'Snow Cake' will be released in selected cinemas across the UK in September.
    Weaver's other two new films 'The TV Set' and 'Infamous' are set for releases later in the year, with 'Infamous' receiving its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
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