Sigourney Weaver faced not just anyone, but the “Alien.” The worst adversary, however, was her own height.
Wherever actress Sigourney Weaver appears, admiring glances are the order of the day. In addition to her big personality, this is also due to her height. Even in flat shoes, Weaver, who celebrates her 75th birthday on October 8th, stands just under 1.82 cm tall and towers over some male co-stars by a few centimeters and some female colleagues by a whole head. Although she was the only one to survive Ridley Scott’s (86) “Alien” in 1979, Weaver may not be the first “Final Girl” in Hollywood – but she is definitely the greatest. However, her impressive appearance stood in the way of her career in the dream factory for a long time.
“Al Pacino sat down”
In 1977, Weaver was able to land her first role in a film – it was a small part in Woody Allen’s (88) “The Urban Neurotics”. Previously, she had to even find an agent: “If you’re almost six feet [rund 183, Anm. d. Red.] “If you’re big, you won’t be signed,” the star recalled in an interview with the British “Hello!” magazine about the rocky beginnings. Her search lasted four years before an agent finally took pity.
However, this was just the beginning of her ox tour through Hollywood’s casting rooms. During her first auditions, one thing particularly struck her: “Casting me was not a conventional decision. Often all the Hollywood producers sat down as soon as I entered the room. Al Pacino sat down “Nobody wanted to look too small.” Weaver’s height collided unhindered with numerous big egos, who often still have the last word in the film business today. Now imagine what it must have been like just around 50 years ago. In any case, a Pacino would have had to be stretched almost six inches into the air just to be eye level with Weaver.
She finds refuge in space
Susan Alexandra Weaver, who was inspired by the character Sigourney Howard from “The Great Gatsby” for her stage name, celebrated her breakthrough in 1979. A still relatively unknown director from Great Britain named Ridley Scott (86) came up with his film “Alien”. ” a mix of sci-fi and horror in which Weaver’s stature fit perfectly. Unlike Jamie Lee Curtis (65) in the start of the “Halloween” series a year earlier, Weaver’s “Final Girl” Ellen Ripley was tough by nature. She consistently stood up to her male, sometimes chauvinistic colleagues. And if they had listened to her, they probably wouldn’t all have been eaten by the xenomorph.
In fact, the character Ellen Ripley was initially conceived as male, but Scott decided early in the production phase to make her a woman. In retrospect, it was a revolutionary decision, “which I never understood, by the way,” as the director said in an interview with the news agency spot on news. “Sigourney was the perfect choice that I never questioned. It was only afterwards that I realized how important this decision was.”
Four Ghostbusters and three Oscar nominations
It’s amazing: After the success of “Alien,” Weaver’s appearance was suddenly no longer a problem in Hollywood. In 1981 she was seen in “The Eyewitness” alongside William Hurt (1950-2022), and in 1982 she spent “A Year in Hell” with Mel Gibson (68). Her second cult film after “Alien” was released in 1984: As Dana Barrett in “Ghostbusters” she had to deal with all sorts of nasty ghosts, a cheeky Bill Murray (74) and a Rick Moranis (71) who was in love with her. The latter star in the horror comedy barely reached her chin.
Over the course of the 80s, Weaver also achieved a feat that ultimately did not have a happy ending. At the Academy Awards she was nominated for a total of three Oscars within two years. In 1989, she was nominated for both best actress and best supporting actress for her performance as real-life zoologist Dian Fossey (1932-1985) in Gorillas in the Mist and for Guns of a Woman. In 1987, thanks to “Aliens,” she was already in the “Best Actress” category. This nomination was already considered a milestone, as genres like that of James Cameron’s (70) “Alien” sequel are still treated quite neglectfully by the Oscar Academy – let alone recognized with a nomination in one of the event’s biggest categories.
She was also nominated for the same film trio at the Golden Globes in each year. While she also came away empty-handed for her action-packed return as Ellen Ripley, in 1989 she had two reasons to be happy. “Gorillas in the Mist” and “A Woman’s Guns” earned her her first and only Golden Globes. She has been nominated a total of seven times to date, most recently in 2013 for the television series “Political Animals”.
In addition to the Golden Globe, she took away a life lesson from “Gorillas in the Fog.” Since then, she has been an active supporter of the Digit Fund organization, which was founded by the animal rights activist Fossey, who was murdered in 1985. Weaver even spoke to the US Senate in 2012 on the topic of climate protection and pushed for stricter laws to preserve the environment.
James Cameron even brought her back from the dead
Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, Sigourney Weaver appeared in over 80 film and series productions. As different as her roles were, over the decades the sci-fi genre was particularly good with her. Fans of the first two parts like to keep a cloak of silence about the two other “Alien” sequels. In 1999, Weaver demonstrated great comedy talent in the “Star Trek” satire “Galaxy Quest.”
Since 2009, Weaver has also been able to boast of being a part of the most successful film in cinema history to date. “Avatar” represented another collaboration with blockbuster maker James Cameron. Not even the death of her character stopped Cameron from having Weaver return in the sequel “Avatar: The Way of the Water,” which was released in 2022 – albeit in a different one , blue-skinned role as a Na’vi teenager.
The one thing you won’t find in Sigourney Weaver off camera is drama. It was exactly 40 years ago that she married the love of her life, director Jim Simpson (68). In 1990, their only child, daughter Charlotte, was born. The now 34-year-old is an actress herself and could easily pass as the young clone of Sigourney Weaver. If her famous mother wasn’t half a head taller.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
