Sigourney Weaver broke down in tears when discussing Kamala Harris at the Venice Film Festival press conference, shortly after she was awarded a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. When asked if her performance as Ripley in “Alien” influenced women’s empowerment and if it would assist Harris winning the presidency of the United States, Weaver responded that she was “So excited about Kamala.”
Then, it seemed she started crying at the prospect of being influential. She remarked, “To think for one moment that my work would have anything to do with her rise makes me very happy, actually, because it’s true. I have so many women who come and thank me.” “It’s been difficult since 2016, and we’re all very grateful about her,” the speaker continued regarding Harris.
The conference revolved around Weaver’s experiences as a woman in Hollywood, and the actor also talked about getting older in the industry. “Suddenly, I think they had decided somehow that older women could actually play interesting characters and started writing a lot of older women characters,” she said. “Suddenly, we stopped being a joke and a mother-in-law, and we started to be real people because actually a lot of our audience are real people.”
In response to a question regarding her propensity to play strong female roles, Weaver stated that this is a natural characteristic of women rather than a choice. “I’m always asked why I play strong women and I always think that’s such a weird question because I just play women, and women are strong and women don’t give up,” she said. “You know why? We can’t. We have to do it.”
Weaver also spoke passionately about the Italian film industry and her desire to work there often. She proposed including a “small clause that you get to come to Italy and work with an Italian director, that should be part of the package” in addition to the Golden Lion. She also mentioned that her child recently got married and that “Divorce Italian Style,” a 1961 comedy-drama, was the first movie the group watched altogether. She called this a “curious choice.”
Weaver, however, refrained from criticising superhero movies like many other industry veterans have, asserting that “Marvel is fine and everybody should be doing what they want.”
However, she declared that Italian film would be her personal preference. “I haven’t really had enough of what Italian film means and gives us, so get busy Italian filmmakers — I’m available!”