THE RANKING

Susan Weaver. Her friends call her Sigourney.

Chris: Let’s talk about beginnings. When did we first become aware of Sigourney Weaver?

Helen: For me it was

Ghostbusters. That was the first thing I saw her in that she was awesome in. But not the last.

Chris: Thank God, or your top ten would be just one film.

Helen: She’s fantastic in that film. Initially Dana is the love interest/damsel in distress, but she’s so cool and self-possessed.

Chris: Well…

Helen: Not forever.

Chris: She tolerates the utter sleaziness of Peter Venkman with wonderful equanimity.

Nick: It was Weaver’s idea for Dana to become possessed and start barking like a dog. It was

The Year Of Living Dangerously

that had put her on Ivan Reitman’s radar.

Chris: Had they not seen Alien?

Ian: It had been five years.

Chris: I know five years is a long time in Hollywood, but come on.

Ian: Because I’m really old, I saw Alien when it came out. In 1979, I bunked into the Odeon Holloway Road, and loved it. I thought she was great.

Nick: It takes a while for her to become the central character. She’s in the background.

Helen: That’s what was so clever about it. She was the stealth lead. It was going to be about Tom Skerritt, not this girl who’s hanging around looking a bit concerned. I don’t think that gets talked about enough. Now she is the star of the Alien franchise.

Chris: She’s second-billed, in fairness.

Helen: I’m not sure how much attention people pay to the order of the billing.

Ian: It’s such a brilliant casting choice by Ridley Scott. She’d done a walk-on in Annie Hall and one other film, and he put her as the lead. That’s a quality choice.

Chris: What did he see in her? She’s very tall, very poised, very intelligent.

Helen: What’s weird is that she isn’t cast as the intellectual in Alien. She’s smart and resourceful, but it’s a bluecollar resourcefulness, not the snooty character which she’s often played brilliantly since, particularly in something like Working Girl.

Chris: Is Alien the standout? Is Ripley the standout?

Helen: I didn’t put Ripley at number one.

Ian: It’s fair to say it’s defined her career to some degree.

Nick: The character gets more iconic moments in Aliens, right?

Ian: She had more of an active say in how Ripley was presented.

Helen: People talk about Ripley as the action woman and kicking ass, but she is explicitly traumatised. She’s not gung ho at all, until she has to be.

Chris: I know she sat down with Jim Cameron beforehand and didn’t want to be a female Rambo. ‘Rambolina’ was the name thrown around on set. From those conversations, and I’m sure Cameron already had plans, comes the film’s true secret weapon, the relationship with Newt and this idea of Ripley as a mother, and becoming Newt’s surrogate mother. It’s a really interesting performance. She was nominated for an Oscar for this, and you can see why. Nick: I’m an Aliens over

Alien guy.

Chris: Alien 3 is a good movie in its own right. But the arc that Ripley takes from beginning to end is tremendous, isn’t it? Nick: Is Alien 3 a good movie in its own right? I am not convinced at all.

Helen: Not compared to Aliens, but it gets a bad rap. Chris: Alien and Aliens are two of the greatest movies of all time. Alien 3–

Nick: Is a movie.

Chris: Nick, it’s the spectral elephant in the room. You say you prefer Ghostbusters II. Stand by your words or fall on your sword.

Nick: There are elements of Ghostbusters II that are better.

Chris: Ecto-1 reversing!

Nick: No, I prefer the villain. I find the Gozer-keymasterzuul-vinz Clortho thing confusing. There’s so much going on. But I just really like Vigo the painting. It’s quite scary as well.

Chris: What about Dana in that?

Helen: She’s a little underserved. She’s just the mum who’s worried about the baby.

Nick: There’s a good opening scene with the pram running away. She really sells, for all her strength and confidence, fear as well.

Chris: Is there anything off the beaten path on your lists?

Nick: Dave.

Chris: No, it’s Chris. We’ve met before.

Nick: Another Ivan Reitman film. She plays the wife of the President, played by Kevin Kline. The President gets replaced by a lookalike and the replacement, Dave, is a nice guy. She goes from being frosty with her husband to slowly falling in love with this person who’s replaced her husband.

Helen: It’s really, really charming. It’s like if The West Wing were a comedy.

Chris: It’s like a Frank Capra film, but in colour, so therefore better.

Helen: Oh my God, you absolute heathen.

Ian: She’s very good in that. Who can straddle comedy and drama like her?

Helen: She was nominated for Working Girl and Gorillas In The Mist [Oscars] in the same year. That’s a huge contrast in roles between Diane Fossey, the gorilla expert, and Katharine Parker, the absolute bitch.

Chris: Both great films. I’m going for Dave on my list. I think it’s a film we need right now, quite frankly. And so is

Galaxy Quest.

Helen: Galaxy Quest is on everyone’s list surely. It’s an incredible change of pace for her. It’s a hilarious performance as Gwen Demarco. She’s stuck in the nothing role that women are often stuck in, and it’s so unlike her.

Ian: Gwen Demarco absolutely understands her place in the world, doesn’t she? And her costume gets ever smaller. Chris: Galaxy Quest is a tremendous film. If we were doing an Alan Rickman Ranking, it would be on there. If we were doing a Tony Shalhoub Ranking, it would be on there. And one day, if we were fortunate enough to do a Tim Allen Ranking, it might be on there.

Nick: We haven’t talked about

Avatar. Do you remember any of her lines from that film?

Chris: “Jake, what are you doing?”

Nick: The one I remember is, “They’re just pissing on us without even giving us the courtesy of calling it rain.”

Helen: That’s not the one that stuck out. I remember her smoking a lot, despite it being space and the future.

Nick: She’s going to be a tree in the next one.

Helen: Well, she’s with Mother Eywa now.

Nick: She’s become one with the Hometree.

Helen: No, it’s the Soul Tree.

Nick: The Hometree got blown up?

Helen: She gets taken into Mother Eywa.

Ian: What a load of old shit.

Helen: It’s all very clear, guys. Nick: I’m an Avatar fan. Maybe not so much that character.

Chris: That character’s fine.

Helen: It’s not one that stretches her.

Nick: It’s her first blueskinned role.

Helen: A milestone for any actor.

Chris: Right, enough squabbling. Let’s vote!