The bell rings, Mary opened the door and and Gordon and David immediately saw Sigourney as their Ripley standing there, this extraordinary looking tall woman with a commanding presence.
She had a sort of American aristocratic bearing so that the viewer would believe her as an officer and that she was physical.
It would obviously a nerve wracking experience for Sigourney projecting this composer, it was obvious that behind it all was a nervous actress.
There she was wearing very high hooker boots, and being already close to six foot, her boots probably made her look about seven feet
In LA, it was the kind of film joke, where you have a vision of the future where below the decks there are two crew members and the rest are officers, and the crew members don't really do anything
They immediately saw what they wanted, a woman with a fresh star quality and also someone who they thought could bring something of the leading man quality to the part which was what it needed
Ridley was very impressed by her, by her height, her impressive character, intelligence and it seemed to make sense for him, his intuition would take note of the person from the moment they walked through the door, even before she opened her mouth and he knew somehow from it was his Ripley.
leading to
- Ridley Scott: My intuition always in casting is from the second they walk through the door. If I see something walk through that door... l knew somehow this was her.(Alien Quadrilogy Documentary)
- Ridley Scott: Sigourney Weaver, never. I mean she came recommended the long way around where somebody had said to somebody there’s this girl who’s doing theatre on Broadway who’s very interesting, is a giant, she’s 6 feet, I think she’s 6.1, in her stockinged feet (?). is very interesting. Smart performer, very physical. Hasn’t done a movie.(report from the interiew for Alien Evolution)
- Interviewer: What about Sigourney Weaver - Did Ridley manipulate the auditions to get her?
David Giler: Actually we were there and she came in, a casting session in New York, and we said well there she is, that’s it, that’s true actually. We actually both decided that it was gonna be her and then we had to fight for her and it was a big fight.
Interviewer: What was it about her?
David Giler: Well, her physical presence. She’s tall and kind of commanding and she has a sort of Amerian aristocratic bearing and that you believed her as an officer and that she was physical. That’s kind of joke in LA, where you got a vision of the future where the below decks there are two crew members and the rest are officers. So, and the crew members don’t really do anything. So she, and that she was, she was fresh, a kind of star quality we thought. And she was good, certainly good enough actress and we thought could bring something of the kind of leading man quality to this part, which is what it needed. Grow into it.
Interviewer: She said she really liked the character of Lambert and Veronica said she thought she would be Ripley
David Giler: I heard that. I didn’t know that to be the case. Ridley had met Veronica on his own somehow and he really wanted her and we said fine, you know. Very good actress. So she was certainly fine with us.
Interviewer: But for you Sigourney was always Ripley.
David Giler:Without a doubt, the minute she came to the office (source?) - (7:29 / 00:07:46) Ridley Scott: But we finally saw this er beautiful
giant walked in the room, we had a whisper about... 'er , saying you've
got to see this girl, Sigourney Weaver because er she's doing a lot of theatre and she's getting important on broadway, and er, you'd better see her and...
(7:42 / 00:07:59) Sigourney Weaver:: hardly
(7:44 / 00:08:00) Ridley Scott : yuh, but I was thinking, oh god we've got a real Thespian here, or I thought so …..so (laughter from Sigourney) In she walked and I thought, er, that's it, that's it, that's it, it was that simple before you.
(7:56 / 00:08:12) Sigourney Weaver: you're kidding ,
(7:57 / 00:08:13) Ridley Scott :Yeah
(7:57 / 00:08:14) Sigourney Weaver: :before I opened my mouth.
(7:58 / 00:08:15) Ridley Scott :… before you spoke, right (00:08:00) there you go
(8:01 / 00:08:16) Sigourney Weaver: : so sweet of you.
(chuckling)
(8:03 / 00:08:18) Sigourney Weaver: : well I was wearing my hooker boots so that helped.
(8:07 / 00:08:21) Ridley Scott: right, that helped a lot, yeah
(8:09 / 00:08:23) Sigourney Weaver: (laughing)
(8:10 / 00:08:24) Ridley Scott: And then we did that, did the exchange, I think there was a bit of reading, then , I can't remember the order of events of ( Alien commentary from Alien Quadrilogy DVD and Alien Anthology Blu-Ray - Sigourney Weaver: And l was wearing these very high hooker boots, and l looked about seven feet tall. (Alien Quadrilogy Documentary)
- Gordon Carroll: ln a very nerve-racking situation, erm, projecting composure, but you knew that just an eighth of an inch behind that composure was a very nervous actress, who a.. a very tense actress, and that was exactly right. We knew, David and l knew, immediately. (Alien Quadrilogy Documentary)
- Sigourney Weaver: "But I think it's better to say things out front, to see how receptive people are, and see whether they're going to listen to you. With a role as big as this one, you've got to find people who work together, and I actually found Ridley's vision of Ripley very agreeable (Official Aliens movie book)
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