Sigourney Weaver

27:20You know, you've got to move on. I mean, it takes... These things happen. That really should have been the tagline of the film. Alien 3. These things happen.

27:35Well, I'll have you know, to name drop, no less than Christopher Nolan has told me he loves Alien 3. So it's got lovers out there. There have been so many, like, amazing... Obviously, you work with Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Neil Blomkamp almost directs one. There have been so many filmmakers that have come close. Danny Boyle back in the day, I feel like, for a minute. Was there any filmmaker in particular that you were dying to work with that I mentioned or didn't mention that you approached along the way? Well, I was. I had done a movie with Neil Blomkamp and Chappie, which I think the critics totally misunderstood.

28:13they were still, and maybe they still are, you know, evaluating science fiction films based on their special effects. And Chappie's just a real story about a robot who wants to be a real boy, like Pinocchio. And so they completely misunderstood it and, you know, I think underestimated it. But Neil had pitched me his alien film, which did bring Newt back to life. and I was very excited about his designs and the script and everything else. And then I won't go into why it was stopped, but it was sort of about control. Right. I think I can read between the lines there. I got you. I mean, Alien continues.

29:04Last night, by the way, Sigourney moderated an Alien Earth event. So I love that you embrace, and look, I've talked to all these young actors, that talk about you, whether it's Catherine Waterston or Kaylee Spaney or Sydney Chandler. It must be lovely to connect with these folks that have kind of inherited the mantle, as it were, of female lead protagonist hero in the Alien saga. Well, I loved Alien Earth. I mean, I liked Romulus too. You know, I think they're both really good. I guess for me, especially, and I met Sydney yesterday in some of the cast, I see myself because it's even though the movie was had no profile it still is a big responsibility and so my heart goes out to them you know and I think that's made you know now that the movies are so beloved I think probably the there may even be more pressure but I really I'm thrilled to still be working at my age because I feel I have an opportunity as an older actor to to bond with the younger actors and kind of you know I guess the message I would always like to send out is don't worry so much it's gonna be fine just hit your mark say the lines go for it You know, and don't think about it when you go home, don't go, well, I should have done this or that.

30:40Of course, everyone does that, but I really have faith in these young actors, and I think the cast of Alien Earth, The Direction, everything else was just extraordinary, fascinating. And I was very glad to see that they didn't bring any of the creatures with them to the little seminar or whatever it was, because they might not be as nice as the actors.

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32:12For you, is the door absolutely 1 ,000 % closed on ever playing Ripley in any capacity again? Since Neil's close call, have there been any discussions with Jim or Ridley or anybody else? You know, Walter Hill is a very good friend of mine, and he wrote 50 pages of where Ripley would be now, and they are quite extraordinary. So I don't know if it's going to happen, but I have had a meeting with Fox, Disney, or whoever it is now. You know, I said, I said, I have never, I have, except for Neil, I've never felt the need. I was always like, let her rest, you know, let her recover. But what Walter has written is so, first of all, seems so true to me, as very much about the society that would incarcerate someone who has tried to help mankind, but she's a problem to them.

33:24So she's sort of tucked away. And anyway, I think it's a very strong first 50 pages. And I'm thinking about, you know, working with Walter to see what the rest of the story would be. It would not be running around air shafts. It would be... You've done your time. Yeah, it would be a very different kind of alien with a really good script. Scary. Of course, the alien does show up. Inevitable. But I love what he's done with the character. He really gets her strength and her anger and her humor. And it's very hard to write. It's surprisingly hard to write, Ripley. Everybody makes you sound like a gym teacher.

34:19All right, people, let's do this, let's do that. It's, you know, you can't... But Walter has it. He has the touch. You have to remember, she goes up on the line, get away from her, you bitch. Well, yeah, that's Ripley. We all approve of this idea. Safe to say.

34:39Thank you. That's encouraging. I want to hit upon some other roles and some other iconic films quickly if we can. Ghostbusters.

34:55More fun to play Dana or Dana inhabited by Zool? I think Zoolie. Have you ever answered a door seductively saying, are you the key master in real life? I probably have. But, you know, I didn't realize till, I think Ivan did some, one of those 30 years later things. I didn't realize that when I went for the audition and being a theater actor, when I read that Dana turns into a dog, that's how I read it. And when I got to the audition with Ivan Reitman, I then, once I got to the end of that scene, I did then, you know, grab cushions in my teeth and do some howling and I, he then, well, first of all, he said, don't ever do that again.

35:52He said, it's so grotesque, an editor will want to use it. But what I didn't know is he then called Harold Ramis and said, you know, Sigourney Weaver just came in and read for Dana and she turned into the dog. Why don't we think about making that the story? And so to find out that 30 years later, and I couldn't imagine, I actually was disappointed that I actually had to turn into a special effect. I was prepared to play the dog all the way through.

36:33Count me among the many obsessed with Galaxy Quest

36:40Last year was I believe the 25th anniversary I actually caught up with Sam Rockwell and Justin Long To talk about it Excellent The only thing The only people that love Galaxy Quest more than the fans I think are the actors You all love I mean you all really seem to have a deep affection for the making of that film and how it turned out. And I know for you, part of the joy was playing against type, correct? Well, I'm much closer to Tawny and Gwen than I am to Ripley. You know, I related to Gwen because she was, you know, a woman in Hollywood who was constantly being judged and evaluated by how she looked all the time and how she moved, how she looked in her costume.

37:24And I felt that was very accurate. And so I really enjoyed playing her. When I first wanted to be in it, I was told, no, they don't want anyone who's ever done science fiction to be in this movie. And I thought, well, if anyone knows how to make fun of science fiction, it's those of us who have been in these movies. And luckily, they changed directors. and so I got to be in it. I know, lucky for all of us, I know those guys are still anxious to do a continuation. I know you guys came close, sadly we obviously lost the great Alan Rickman, and I think right close to his passing it was coming pretty close to happening.

38:10Yeah, they were absolutely going to do it and it had a very funny story. Are you still in principle game given the material coming in the right way, or does Alan's lost make it a little unusual or not right? I think it would have happened by now. But I did, at a certain point, they talked about Benedict Cumberbatch playing a version of Alan's part. Very hard to come back to it without Alan there because it's hard to tell from the film. Some of his scenes were cut because they weren't good for a chill. They decided at the last minute But it was a children's film because it was going to go up against Stuart Little.

38:51They cut some of Alan's great scenes, and I wish they'd put out a director's cut because those scenes are the best. Hard to imagine it's even better, but that's awesome. Then, of course, we should talk about Avatar. There's more Avatar on its way. What a gift to re-team with Jim after all these years. He's mellowed a little bit, it seems. like we you know he's a he's a genius he obviously can the thing about Jim they always say is like he can do everybody's job on set as better or as well as everybody uh what's been the experience like working with Jim this time around versus way back when well it's it's wonderful it wasn't till I went on tour with Jim our sort of little victory tour after the Venice Film Festival and had dinner with Jim a few times that I finally went, hey, you're really funny.

39:45How come we never saw this Jim the whole time we were shooting? I think because it was a difficult shoot and he had so much to do. But I think he has mellowed. He's so lovely to work with. He's so interested in what the actor might contribute. He'll try anything. The beauty of this technology is that you don't have sets, you don't have lighting. You basically have the actors in their suits and everything comes from that. People think that these movies are voiced. Not at all. This is the most pure acting I've ever had to do because you aren't thinking of hair and makeup or any of those things. It's all about the connection between you and your fellow actors.

40:39So I think that we've all really enjoyed having the privilege of working this way. And I think Jim is having a great time working with this particular company. You know, we're like a family now because we've all known each other. The little kids, like Trinity, who is seven, she's now like 15, you know, gorgeous. Jack is like, you know, a giant. So it's really amazing to still be together, still working after all this time. Have you shot, like when's the last time you shot stuff? Because again, this goes way back. Two and three were shot years and years ago. Yeah, but we kept coming back to them and refining them, which is very easy to pick up.

41:30And, of course, four and five are absolutely extraordinary scripts. So I'm pretty sure Jim will direct them. I was going to say, he seems to be hedging, but you believe he's going to figure it out. Yeah, I mean, we don't want him to feel trapped. But I think that he would, he really, we really do love working together. and so I think that will work out. Not exactly sure when we will shoot them, but I guess it depends on how three does. So please go to see it 5 ,000 times. It is going to be a great movie. Very different in keeping with our times. It is a darker movie. And we'll start to learn maybe a little bit more about your character's mysterious past.

42:21Yes, yes, yes. Something else to look forward to is, of course, you have to be part of the Star Wars universe. It's like written in the stars. It has to happen. I'm surprised it took this long. Is that just like a phone call from Jon Favreau? Like, how did that come around? Yeah, like I got this call from Jon. I mean, you know, I don't want to be greedy and just eat franchises. I'm a monster. But I got a call from Jon Favreau, who I'm a great admirer of, and, you know, we talked, and he said, just start watching the show. And I was, of course, amazed by it and fell in love with it. And Pedro and Grogu, I mean, also, I love how the Star Wars universe has, it's not trying to pay off each movie with the whole backlog of movies.

43:17It's now individual stories set in the same universe. Ours is set in the outer rim. So I was thrilled. I was only on the set for a few days, but I was surrounded by all kinds of different creatures. I got a drink from someone with a very different kind of head than I have. Don't talk about Pedro Pascal that way. What? What? I know. So you get to work with both Pedro and Grogu. Quality time with Mandalorian and Grogu? You know, I'm the luckiest girl in the world. Also lucky, I mean, to see you in that iconic costume, like the X-Wing pilot costume, again, who would have thunk it? Amazing. Not I.

44:07Yeah. It was a whole new world. So I feel very fortunate that I got to do that. I mean, we've touched on only a small part of your career. I mean, there's obviously all the amazing non quote unquote genre work too. What do people consistently bring up one or two things on the day to day? Or is it like, can you clock alien versus galaxy quest fan coming from 10 yards away? What is it like to be Sigourney Weaver out in the universe? You know, it's, it makes me realize how lucky I am. I have, I feel like the fans don't go to everything. So that I have Gorillas in the Mist fans who are often coming up to me.

44:52Especially now that we've just lost the amazing Jane Goodall.

45:02So there's a lot of concern about the Gorillas. Some people love the Year of Living Dangerously. I feel like they don't overlap. I do have small children coming up to me talking about Alien, which is worrying because they're very small. They're like three or four, and I'm thinking, how do they cope with this? They're going to be in therapy for years. How did your child handle watching Alien, watching Mom run away from a xenomorph? At what age did you see it? I didn't show it to her because I wanted her to feel that being her mom was the most important job. I didn't want her to be. So I never showed my movies at home.

45:47I think she finally saw Alien at a friend's house in high school and then studied aliens in a sci-fi class in college. She's a good sport about all of this. Must be really weird. but you know she just got married so she can't wait to show her husband Ice Storm I said you really want to show him Ice Storm? Anyway so no she's very good about it We're about to bring out a special guest I just want to cue the folks backstage to have our special guest ready but before we do that here's the golden question related to Alien and Aliens which one do you prefer? You can only choose one, Sigourney, I'm sorry.

46:39You know, they're so utterly different. There's so much each director's vision that I don't have a favorite. I think that Jim Cameron wrote an extraordinary big part for a woman in those days. I will always be grateful. But Ridley Scott has always had very strong female roles, too. And so I, absolutely. And so I'm, you know, I've just been really lucky. The guys I've worked with really appreciate strong women. So I just, I found a really good group.

47:28Well, speaking of strong women, look, we talked about the ensemble. in Alien. And again, the way that Ridley and company cast that film, it really holds up. It's an amazing company of actors. We're going to have a little reunion on stage right now because we have another acting legend in the house and she's also contributed so much, not only to Alien but to the entire genre from the birds, witches of Eastwick, so much more. Please give a warm welcome to the one and only Veronica Cartwright is here.

48:02Can we put these down? Or do you? We're going to bring another chair. .

48:23These chairs are wobbling. Hi. John Haskell, Veronica, thank you so much for joining us. What a treat. Veronica Hennig, Thank you so much for inviting me. It's very cool. Have you guys seen each other in the last 40 years? I mean... Yes, we've seen each other a couple of times, a few times. Yeah. But it has been a while. It has been a while. Sometimes the cast of Aliens will get together at Calgary. I think we did that. And... but this is, you know, this is very unusual. And so it's really cool. Yeah. It's a special treat.

49:01It's a special treat for all of us. Veronica, I'd love to get your perspective on some of what we discussed because again Nobody really knew what alien was going to be. I've heard you talk about it like oh, this is this is a B movie This is another this is a job and it's a B movie. Was that fair to say what your attitude was at the time on set or? Well, I don't think we What Ridley did was cast people that were not like superstars or movie stars he cast really good people, because what Ridley likes to do is do the scenery and all of the stuff to make sure that it all looks perfect. And he got really competent and great actors together so that we could, he didn't have to worry about us.

49:47And so it was great. I mean, I must say, you brought up the first thing of Kane letting us into the shuttle without being, you know, do we keep you apart? Do you not? And I come in and of course I'm so upset. Well, it's in the director's cut, but it's not in the main movie. And I went to slap Sigourney across the face because she was a bitch for not letting us in. Well, every time I went to slap Sigourney, she ducked. So Ridley comes over. Oh, no, I think you got me a couple of good ducks. Well, no, but because Ridley comes... It's not in the movie? In the director's cut, not in the first cut.

50:37Oh, I didn't realize that. So Ridley comes over to me and he goes, would you just fucking get her this time? I said, well, okay. So I go like that, you duck, and I backhanded you. And you were not a happy camper. But the pro that she is, she stuck with it. No, I thought it was perfect. You know, we did a lot of, not exactly improvisation, but it was Ridley preferred us not to quite know what we were going to do. He wanted it, that feeling of just being in such danger that you're not quite thinking clearly, and all hell is breaking loose. But at the same time, we were a crew that had been together for years, and so those tensions all build up.

51:30I mean, as Ridley said, we were truckers in space, and that's what we were. Things were breaking down, and we had to keep getting them fixed, And I thought myself, I was the bravest of all saying, let's get out of here. But nobody listened to me. It would have been one film then, no franchise. You'll escape the alien. What do you remember about the sets themselves and the xenomorph? I mean, like the sets are so palpable. They do feel lived in. It is that kind of iconic. It's iconic now. But how did it feel stepping onto those sets? And did the xenomorph in person read as something that the audience was going to buy?

52:08Or, oh, this is really silly. worried. Oh no, he was scary as shit. I mean he was magnificent. He was like seven foot two. He was part of the Maasai tribe. Balaji's hands, I mean Maasai are built very long and thin. His hands were below his kneecaps. So when they put his gloves on and his whole body suit, I mean it was just, it was unbelievable. And he had gone and taken Tai Chi and mime classes. So he could roll himself up into a ball and slowly stand up and then just stand there. Like when I'm, my demise, I mean, he was petrifying because he just stood there and then he went like, he was magnificent.

52:56He was so wonderful. And what I loved was he would walk around with these big blue sneakers with the big white sneakers and his head off, but his body suit on. And Tom Skerritt said, you know, this guy's got to be able to sit down. He had him build a swing for him. So he used to sit in this swing with the tail behind him. It was, it was hysterical. And big blue sneakers. It was hysterical. He was lovely. He was lovely. He was lovely. And also, you put someone like that in the suit, it also becomes, it's terrifying, but it's also one of the most beautiful things you'll ever see. So erotic, frightening, elegant, you know, I think it's exactly what Ridley was looking for.

53:42Well, because they found him. He was a graphic artist they found in a pub. And he just sort of fit this description of, because there was sort of ambiguity as to which way they wanted to go. Was it going to be a hermaphrodite? Was it going to be this, that, and the other? and they saw him and he was willing to do everything except the maggots and the brain. Can you blame him? Understandable. There's so much lore about all the scenes, but especially the first chestburster scene with John Hurt. I'd love to hear just your perspectives on how it played out in real time for you guys. We were left up in the dressing room for hours while they fed up John and his chest.

54:24You know, we didn't know quite what was happening. We'd read a script. It was in the script. But, and Sigourney and I had actually gotten to go down because we shot a scene after that event and we didn't know what it was that was supposed to be coming out of this chest. So they took us down to the puppet place where they had this, it wasn't flesh-colored at this point, it was just a gray penis. and these guys were so excited because they go, look, look, and the chest would breathe, and they go, oh, wait until we get the teeth in there, and we're going, oh, okay. It was just so weird. It was very weird, but when it all happened, well, for me, anyway, there were four cameras, and we walked behind this shield of plastic, and there were big buckets of awful around.

55:14I mean, I mean, I retched as I walked on the set. And it was just so tense, and what you see was the first take. I mean, it was unbelievable. And I leaned right into a blood jet, which I did not realize was there. I mean, we came down, everyone was wearing like a poncho. A plastic poncho. And Dan and Ron were off in the corner going. It's like Christmas for them to see the chestburster come out. And what I remember about that day, because it was very early on really, is I was so stunned by John's acting. You really felt he was dying. And I just, it was such a powerful performance. and I, you know, honestly, yeah, when the little thing jumps out, there's this great take where we're all kind of, we all watch it.

56:14You know, they, Josh, Noah Hawley uses real effects, and these guys would be under the table, and then honestly this thing came out and ran out of the room in like one or two takes and we're, it's a master. It's the only one where we're just like, what the fuck? You know? It's like, what just happened? It was great. I mean, what was so interesting about it, it was so simple. Now they do CGI and everything. There was a slit down the table and a guy on a dolly underneath the table with the little guy and then he turned and stuff. It was just mesmerizing and then whipped him off. I mean, it was just whipped him off.

57:08It was amazing. The whole thing was magnificently done. Very quick. They were just extraordinary with just some hoes and some, little things to squeeze and everything. They just made the whole thing happen, all of it. It was so elegantly done. I kind of wish everybody in unison had just turned and said, what the fuck?

57:36The film holds up. I mean, we're talking about these practical effects, and you would think somehow, like, oh, we're now so used to, like, slick CGI and everything, and that has its place, but I don't know, does it strike you? like how wide does this movie hold up as well as it does? Well, I think it's perfect because it is practical. I mean, it's no CGI where you're looking at something that's made up after you finish the movie. Everything was practical. Those sets were the most magnificent things you've ever seen. We took over the entire Shepard Inn studio, and each soundstage had something on it.

58:12And at one point, the desert scene was the largest soundstage in Europe at the time, and they filled that thing with sand, and they put these spacesuits on us, and moon boots, and hockey gloves that were painted and wouldn't bend, and forgot to give us air holes, so we were... It was... But it was every set. The big vaginas is the... You know, is the... I mean, and you look at those things, and you think, oh my God, what am I in? I mean, and the engine room, it was so claustrophobic because everything was connected. You went to the engine room, you went down the hall, to the left was the hospital, to the right was the dining area.

58:59Everything was connected, and every day you went onto the set, you'd have to walk down this, which gave you that feeling of claustrophobia. It was, everything was done for a purpose. and then as the movie progresses they would stand there with those cylinders of glycerin and spray them on us oh god almighty every particle of dust by the end of the day was glued to your body it was pretty gross i i loved the sets coming from the theater i thought wow so nice of them to build these really real sets for us and then of course we'd be in these sets like the consoles We were never allowed to touch those buttons.

59:40We always had to touch fake buttons over here. And so the whole thing was, to me, very funny, you know. It was absolutely real, but you couldn't use it. Ann Ridley loved smoke. There was smoke constantly. Our original actor for John Hurt was John Finch. And he had just gotten out of the hospital having pneumonia. and after the first day of shooting with all that smoke, he was back in the hospital. And so John Hurt comes in and in the meantime, I'd had all my hair cut off and it was like a crew cut and John comes in and he had the same haircut and the same complexion. I said, I didn't know we were clones of each other.

1:00:25It was like, oh no. Sigourney, do you remember the first time you saw the film? Is there any recollection of... Yes, I'm sure I can recall that. I mean, for either of you, like it must have been, again, you have the experience on set and it sounds like it was very rewarding, but like, again, the music, everything coming together. Well, you know, they didn't give a premiere. There was no premiere. I went down to the Egyptian theater in Hollywood and saw it by myself. And people, when the chestburster happened, were getting up out of their seats and leaving the theater. Nobody had seen anything like it.

1:01:00It was really super impressive, I thought. I mean... Well, I forgot they didn't have an opening for us. They didn't have an opening. I know. We were just a B movie. I know. So then...

1:01:22For both of you, is it kind of like a demarcation point in your career? There's before Alien and there's after Alien because it's still a part... look, we're here, it's still a part of all of our lives. Do you look back at Alien as kind of a pivotal moment in your respective careers? Well, I certainly do because I, you know, I learned not to look in the camera, which I kept doing and Ridley kept saying, you can't look in the camera. And I said, well, I'd love to not look in the camera, but you keep putting it right in front of me. So I didn't, and actually Tom Skerritt explained to me where I should look, you know, sort of not in the camera, but around it.

1:02:05And so all these basic things I had to learn very quickly. So that certainly, but I'm so amazed and thrilled that it is still such a loved movie. And I think so much credit should be given to Ridley Scott, Truckers in Space, you know.

1:02:32It's not elegant sci-fi. It's the real deal. Absolutely. Well, events like this make me realize I can't believe I get to do this for a living because what a treat for me and for all of us here today to get to talk about Alien and your respective careers. It's a treat for us, too. Thank you so much. Thank you guys so much for taking the time out today. Give it up one more time. I'm Veronica Cartwright. Sigourney Weaver, everybody. Come on.

1:03:07And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh.

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