In 2016, Sigourney Weaver joined an audience at the Town Hall in New York City for a screening of Aliens. Afterwards, she conducted a Q and A, saying, “It’s great to see it on the big screen with such an appreciative audience. It’s so magnificently constructed as a story. All the Marines are such wonderful characters, so beautifully played.
"In Alien, we didn’t get the chance to really know Ripley, with all her levels. I love her isolation at the beginning of Aliens, the fact that she’s outlived everyone she knew, the world she knew is gone – but The Company doesn’t change.”
Weaver said the film's premise was perfect: people being in danger is a great catalyst for Ripley. "In her mind, she’s earning the right to stay alive. In a situation like that, you do what you have to do. You don’t have time for thought and emotion, and maybe you don’t want those things anyway."
She noted the maternal confrontation that is present in James Cameron's film. "The Queen wants to protect her children, too. The face-off at the end between the two mother figures is so important to the themes of motherhood and nurturing that are throughout the film."
She also felt that Aliens resonated today more than it ever did. “Unfortunately, I think we have more corporations like Weyland-Yutani now than we did when we made this movie. There’s such an emphasis on profit over everything, no matter the personal or environmental costs – when Paul Reiser tries to justify his actions, these are comments you could read in the paper tomorrow: ‘What we’re doing here is really valuable,’ ‘You don’t understand,’ ‘There’s a lot of money invested in this.’ If anything, our society is going further in this direction, which for me makes Aliens more resonant."
She refers to Ripley being a sort of female "everyman" hero. “I was so grateful to have a role where I could get the job done without some skimpy outfit, or something super glamorous.
"I mean, I don’t want to horrify audiences – I’m sure I wore some makeup, but getting glammed up wouldn’t make sense for this character or what she had to do. I was really fortunate to work with a director who respected that.
"It’s true that Ripley is a great woman character, but by the end, she’s acquired a lot of Everyman, and there’s something that lots of different people can identify with.”
She adds: “Science fiction is one of the rare spaces in this business where you can tell original stories. And it doesn’t get the respect; critics can’t get their heads around it. This is an exploration of what it means to be human."
SOURCE: Author Sam J. Miller who was at the 2016 Aliens screening in New York City. (samjmiller.com)
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