Her longevity in the film industry is worthy of admiration and Sigourney Weaver is determined to continue blazing a trail for actresses in their 40s and 50s.
The “Alien” star discussed the current state of affairs in Tinseltown with Kevin Klein in her Gotham magazine interview for the December 2014 edition.
Klein asked, “More and more actresses in their 40s and 50s are still working and getting key roles. Well, three of them are—you, Helen Mirren, and Meryl Streep. What are the reasons for this?
Weaver replied, “I think one of the reasons the roles are coming to us is because, with someone like Meryl, people can count on her to turn in these amazing performances that [moviegoers] will go out to see. Writers are writing stories with good women’s parts because women are a part of our world. We’re much more integrated than we used to be.
And as a mother, Sigourney has struggled with giving time and love to both her family and her craft. “First of all, I feel like guilt is too simple a description that any parent feels when they’re away from home during these very important passages of time. I was lucky to have my wonderful husband, because we would switch on and off. [As for] the time spent away--I feel like my daughter couldn’t care less, but I missed a lot of cool things.”
For her latest role, Weaver stars in “Exodus: Gods and Kings.” “It’s the biblical one, and I play Tuya, the wife of one of the pharaohs. My son is Ramses the Great, played by Joel Edgerton. John Turturro is the Pharaoh Seti. I’m not his favorite wife, but I’m the mother of the prince. To keep my power, I need my son to become pharaoh. Moses, played by Christian Bale, is the golden boy. He makes my son look impulsive and small-minded. Through the whole movie, in basically every scene I have, it’s: “Kill Moses.” “Why didn’t you kill Moses?” “For crying out loud, will you please kill Moses!”
