Sigourney Weaver In Her Own Words: Aliens, Avatar, and Her Awkward Adolescence | Exclusive

The award winning actress has reunited once again with James Cameron, the man who turned her into an Oscar-nominated action hero in 1986 with the film Aliens, on Avatar: The Way of Water. But this time her role came with a catch – she’s playing a 14-year-old. To do it right, the actress shares how she had to dig deep to rediscover the girl she once was, and to look clear-eyed at the legend she’s become

I used to take acting very seriously. What a fool I was. Sometimes I think about writing one of those booklets like Eva Le Gallienne wrote. It’ll be called Letter to a Young Actor, and it will just say – there’s so much you don’t have to worry about. You don’t have to question yourself on all these things. Just be present.

Acting is easy if you let it be. That’s what we really want to see – that you’re present in the character, that you’re alive, that you’re listening, that you’re seeing everything around you. I think drama school can make you do all these kinds of things that aren’t right for every actor.

Acting, for me, had a learning curve. I had to learn to trust myself, let my instincts take over instead of figuring things out in my head. I do a lot of preparation now, but then I absolutely let it go. However it wants to express itself, it’s there. I don’t actively try to control the scene – I’m just in the scene. I see what happens.

I had to do a lot of preparation for Avatar: The Way of Water. Yes, I’d already done the first [Avatar film] with Jim Cameron, but in this one I’m not even the same character. In this, I’m a 14-year-old girl named Kiri.

I knew about this well in advance, of course. Jim and I had lunch in 2010 in Los Angeles, and we were there to talk about something else. Somehow the conversation drifted to the idea of creating a character who was a teenager, who would have some connection with Grace, my character from the first film, but we weren’t sure what that would be. We knew she would be different, of course. A Na’vi girl who felt more at home in the forest with the animals and the plants and trees than with people. Everything built from there – all from that one lunch about something else.

I first met Jim when we made Aliens back in 1986. That was a high-stress situation if I ever knew one. The British crew was very proud of the first one, and they couldn’t understand why this Canadian kid was over there. They’d never heard of Terminator. It was a rough couple of weeks in the beginning, but [Jim and I] got along right away, from the day I met him.

Jim had been afraid I’d be some sort of monster, you know. He probably thought, ‘How collaborative will she be? She might come in and want changes and everything.’ But he had nothing to be afraid of. The script was so magnificent when he sent it to me. All that I thought was someone might have mentioned to me that it existed, since I’m on every single page. He really wanted to meet with me and see if I had any suggestions. I might have had a couple of very small things, but the arc he built with Ripley and the aliens was so amazing.

Jim was very serious through that whole shoot. It wasn’t until we were on what I call the victory tour, going to Venice Film Festival and all that, that we’d have dinner. I finally said to him, ‘You know, you’re so funny. You’re so witty. Who knew you were funny this whole time? Where was this guy?’

At least on our third film, I could focus on preparation – and there was a lot of that. I first spent a lot of time thinking back to when I was 14. I kept thinking of my own childhood, and how lonely it was, really. I always had my nose in a book. I wasn’t really like Kiri – Kiri is much more complex. For various reasons, I remember that time period growing up very well. My parents had moved, so I was a fish out of water in a new place. I was as tall as I am now since I was 11 – so I always wanted to disappear.

I didn’t think I had enough at first. I was particularly worried about the voice. I started sitting in on LaGuardia High School classes just to hear how kids talked, and it struck me how much the voices between 12 and 15 are all over the place. Some of them sound like little kids still, and some sound like adults. That made things easy for me. I didn’t have to force it. So instead I just woke up the 14-year-old inside of me, the person I was back then, and let that Sigourney go. I just set that girl loose.

At first [during filming] I had to gradually change my body over to a 14-year-old every day, but then it started happening very quickly. I think it’s because of how vividly I remember what it felt like being 14. I remember all of it. I kept remembering that feeling of wanting to always disappear.

It’s easy to think about my own family on a set like this one. After all, the family we portray very much reflects Jim’s family and his love for his family. We were all based on his actual kids and the way they put each other down, roll their eyes at each other, but would do anything for each other. He really wanted that verisimilitude. And we were his other family, you know? He would always ask, is there anything you want to try that I haven’t thought of? He’s very generous with actors, and he loves all of us. And he wants each character to blossom.

“I’ll be honest with you – I’ve never felt more fulfilled in my career”

Sigourney Weaver

It was a lengthy shoot, and we had to dive [and spend a lot of time] underwater. But Jim made sure that we had the best teacher in the world, and that we had a full year really of learning how to do that and developing confidence. And when I watched the film, I really felt our comfort in the water. I don’t think that’s something you could act. I thought we looked like we belonged in the water. That came from studying, holding our breath for minutes on end. It was a very pure experience. I could do what I always want to do with acting – prepare, and then let go.

I’ll be honest with you – I’ve never felt more fulfilled in my career. Much more than I used to feel. I have about six projects coming out in the next six months. I’ve never had so much opportunity, and it’s all interesting things, which I love because I hate repeating myself. I’m having so much fun.

Now, I just have to write that booklet, and perhaps I’ll save other people the trouble I had to go through to get here.

Photos: Portrait by John Russo, Avatar Courtesy of 20th Century Studios, Supplied Images.

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s February 2023 Issue.