Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100024
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUGLAS J. ROWE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Believe it.
Sigourney Weaver does, although it still amazes her when she meets people and that's the first role of hers that so many cite.
There's no denying that the part of a sexy, sweaty, 6-foot woman wielding a flame-thrower to blast a slimy evil creature into outer space is a memorable one.
That's probably why Weaver herself can say in a matter-of-fact tone rather than a resigned one: ``I'm sure I'm already typecast in a lot of people's minds.''
But even though she reprised her first major film role, 1979's ``Alien,'' with two sequels (1986's ``Aliens'' and 1992's ``Alien 3''), her career can be characterized as varied, even distinguished.
The 46-year-old actress has appeared in the ``Ghostbusters'' comedies, ``The Year of Living Dangerously'' and Roman Polanski's film adaptation of ``Death and the Maiden.''
She received a best-actress Academy Award nomination for ``Aliens,'' then two Oscar nominations in one year - best actress for ``Gorillas in the Mist'' and best supporting actress for ``Working Girl,'' both 1988 releases.
It's true, in most of her roles, she's a straight-ahead, stalwart type. But in Polanski's film and her latest, ``Copycat,'' in which she plays a criminal psychologist who has a nervous breakdown, she appears to be giving up her addiction to heroine roles.
``She's a bit of a basket case,'' Weaver acknowledged, laughing, in an interview in a Manhattan hotel suite. ``I think that was the challenge for me.''
The film's Helen Hudson, who's transformed into a pill-popping juicehead suffering from agoraphobia induced by one of the serial killers she's studying, certainly won't be confused with Ripley. She's housebound and easily petrified. Months after the attack that decimated her, she reluctantly agrees to help a detective (played by Holly Hunter) who's determined to solve the latest serial killer case. (His pattern is to replicate, in turn, a murder by the Boston Strangler, Hillside Strangler, Son of Sam, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, among others. Hence, the title.)
While trying to range widely with her roles, only recently would Weaver allow that her career is NOT riddled with doubts. There was a time when she would suggest someone for a certain part over herself, once saying: ``I think I get sent the roles Meryl [Streep] is not doing.''
Even with ``Copycat,'' she said, a few other actresses were lined up before her, but they opted out for whatever reasons.
``I think at that point I didn't offer any better people,'' she said, chuckling. ``The roles are not that plentiful.
``I always used to do that. I used to go in and say, `You know who would really be great in this part?' ... I would always give them someone else. I couldn't stop myself. It was, I think, probably the producer in me that I could see it cast. And sometimes part of it was just I was intimidated.''
Like when the part of Dian Fossey came up in ``Gorillas in the Mist.'' She proposed Diane Keaton and Vanessa Redgrave.
``It took me a while to take on the big parts,'' Weaver said. ``I'm used to playing straightforward people. And when the characters are very complex, I don't know that I felt I had enough training, in a way, to be able to tell their stories. But now I've learned so much over the years that now I feel capable of showing a lot different sides of people.''
Weaver - who lives in New York with her husband, theater director Jim Simpson and their young daughter, Charlotte - still tends to agonize over her work. But now that she has more experience, she said she realizes ``the important thing is to play the character. In other words, you try to leave yourself alone. You get out of your own way. You know, just let your talents and your training do it.''
Now there's a shibboleth for the 1990s: Just do it. Yet, that ``it'' hasn't included many comedies or romantic leads.
``It's amazing to me that I haven't done more comedy. It's the one thing I think I'm really good at it,'' she said, revealing that next year she'll appear in a new comedic play by old pal Christopher Durang.
``I think love stories are the most fun film you can do. I always end up playing these ultraserious people.''
She's turned down a lot of comedies because she says there aren't that many great comedic roles and scripts for women, and the right directors to handle them.
``There are a lot of things that, I think, you can get away with in a normal film. But a comedy really has to be this souffle,'' she said.
She figures that she's only been in a few really nice romantic films because studio heads probably don't think of a 6-footer like her for a conventional love story. ``It has to be a sort of weird love story,'' for her to be tabbed, she suggested.
``If I had my choice I would do nothing but romantic comedies,'' she said.
So what's she doing next?
``You know, I never have a plan. I never have a goal,'' said Weaver, who had a blue-blood upbringing as the daughter of Sylvester ``Pat'' Weaver, a long-ago NBC president credited with creating the ``Today'' and ``Tonight'' shows, and Elizabeth Inglis, an actress who appeared in ``The 39 Steps.''
``I just think in this business it's much better to sort of keep doing your work and see what comes up. ... I don't believe in going after roles. First of all, I never get them. But also I guess I just feel very philosophical about things that come to you.''
As for a fourth ``Alien'' adventure coming to her, Weaver knows that Ripley can be cloned from some strands of hair or old nail clippings and brought back to life (since the creature was jumping out of her chest when last we looked).
``I care very much about this series. But I'm very ambivalent at this point. I like the character very much. And I do kind of miss her. But on the other hand, I've had a good life since `Aliens.' The post-`Aliens' life for me has been filled with a lot of challenging things.''
by CNB