During Wednesday press conference before she was awarded the Golden Lion For Lifetime Achievement during the 81st International Venice Film Festival, Sigourney Weaver was asked about the extent to which cinema “can make it possible that a woman like Kamala Harris can become president of the United States.”
The question seemed to take the actress by surprise, but not in a bad way. “I love that question,” she replied. “because we’re all so excited about Kamala and, to think for one moment that my work would have anything to do with her rise, makes me very happy.”
“I have so many women who come and thank me…” Weaver said, choking up. She reached for her water bottle, jokingly calling it her vodka. “It’s been difficult since 2016, and we’re all very grateful about her.”
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Weaver, who’s best known for her iconic role as the tough, groundbreaking character Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise, has long been vocal about her left-wing, feminist views. She’s talked about confronting Ronald Reagan at an event in the ’80s about his opposition to abortion rights, and was openly anti-Trump throughout his administration. She spoke at the DNC in 2016, criticizing Donald Trump’s climate change policies in particular.
Outside of Harris’ recent rise, Weaver spoke at the festival about another win for women when it comes to the types of acting roles available to them. “Suddenly they decided that older women could actually play interesting characters,” she said. “We stopped being a joke and the mother-in-law, and began becoming real people.”
She also praised the Alien screenwriters, David Giler and Walter Hill, saying, “My character was a person, not a woman. They are two of the very few writers who can write a script as just a person. You don’t see her having to be girly or womanly or any of these other ideas, which are all great, but women can be everything.”
Weaver continued, “I got to play what I realize now was an every-person part. She is all of us. She is what you become when you have to find the ingenuity and don’t even have the time to be brave. Women all over the world are at the frontline.”
