Sigourney Weaver turned 75 in October but, as she explained during a recent Zoom interview, that just opens up a new avenue that she’s excited to explore. 

“I’ve never thought of aging as something where you stop. It’s only something where you kind of discover new challenges and explore new areas,” she said. “I feel like the audience appreciates many women characters, especially women of a certain age.”

Weaver shared that many of her friends who are in their 70s are very active and notes her belief that women are regularly defying the odds.

Of course, Weaver herself has defied the odds in her own five decade acting career. While she made her film debut in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall (1977), her career-defining performance came with Alien in 1979 – in which she played the badass warrant officer Ellen Ripley, a seminal big screen heroine that broke ground for generations of female action heroes to follow. She later reprised the role in James Cameron’s 1986 Aliens – one that earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nominations – as well as Alien 3 (1992) and Alien Resurrection (1997).

And while Weaver found a home in the sci-fi genre with roles in the Ghostbusters films, Galaxy Quest and the Avatar franchise, among others, she refused to be pigeonholed. Instead, she starred in a range of dramas and comedies like The Ice Storm, Working Girl and Gorillas in the Mist – the latter two earning her a pair of Best Actress Oscar nominations in 1989. 

For Weaver, when it came to choosing a profession, there was no doubt that she would become an actor because the variety of the work always appealed to her. But the New York-born star is strategic about the projects she takes on, admitting that there is a checklist that helps her decide whether to take on a role. She tells me she’s an English major at heart, which means that she looks for a really solid original story with a beginning, middle and end, and a movie that’s about more than just the people in it.

These all happen to be qualities she found in The Gorge, which marks Weaver’s most recent venture into the sci-fi genre. The Gorge, an Apple TV+ sci-fi thriller, follows two highly-trained operatives, Levi (Miles Teller) and Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy), who are appointed to guard towers on opposite sides of a vast gorge for an entire year without any contact with the outside world. It’s a highly classified opp that holds a secret from the world that lies deep in the gorge. Weaver plays Bartholomew, Levi’s boss, who calls the shots to protect the secrets of the gorge.

“What thrilled me about this movie and why I had to do it was that it combines adventure with an amazing love story with these two wonderful young stars,” Weaver explained. “The story unfolds in this fascinating way bit by bit so that you’re sitting on the edge of your seat going, ‘What?’ And trying to put it together as Levi does. I think it’s very skillfully done.”  

She added that she “actually loved the script and found it very original in its own amazing, believable way,” almost like “it had a whole Hitchcock sort of flavour to it.”

Sigourney Weaver In Her New Era

Weaver is enjoying her career now more than ever and attributes that to the changing tides of the business that have improved for women. Case in point: in the old days, she explained, Bartholomew would have been played by a man. Or, the studio would have made sure she was a sympathetic character – which she’s never felt was very important. “I think people are people, and some people are gonna find them sympathetic.

“I think it’s exciting for me to come in and play this very sharp, authoritative person who’s quite intimidating, and you don’t know what makes her tick, nor do I need to demonstrate that.”  

She explained that the industry, like this role, is now starting to accurately reflect and portray women in power. 

“What I find that I like about Bartholomew is that she’s really good at her job. Her job is to find the right person to do this, tell him just enough but not too much, and send him to do his best,” she said.  “And she’s very unsentimental about it and I find that very real because women are in these positions of power now, much more than they used to be, and I’m proud to be in an industry that is reflecting that.”

It’s clear that she admires Bartholomew and the idea that she’s a woman in the military, having to figure out things on the fly and judge situations and people quickly to make big decisions. “I find those qualities very interesting in life, but also to play.” (She does note, however, that she herself would pursue a much different goal than the character does in the film).

That said, Weaver noted an important distinction when it comes to the characters she has portrayed throughout her career.

“It’s not that I play strong, smart women. Women are strong. Women keep the world running and I think women are having a particularly challenging time now, and movies can help in reminding us of how strong we are and how we hold the world together and get the job done.” 

She added that, “I’m glad to be able to play characters that I feel are completely realistic. Hopefully, women can save the day for the planet, as well as in a lot of situations around the world.”

As for herself, the key to Weaver’s continued longevity in life and her career is simple: “taking care of yourself is very important as you get older.” She shared that she tries to eat sensibly and credited her husband for his support, like the time he cooked for her while she performed eight shows a week on stage in London.

“The poor man had to cook these incredible meals with protein every day and lots of vegetables. Honestly, he kept me going for those four months, and it was a very difficult time. 

“So I really look very carefully at that and make sure I do all the obvious things, drink enough water and get enough exercise. All those basic things I think are very important, trying to find a balance between work and life.”  

The Gorge premieres on Friday, February 14 on Apple TV+.

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