12 Perfect Casting Choices That Launched Major Film Franchises
2. Sigourney Weaver Ripley In The Alien Series
In the seven-member cast for 1979s Alien, Sigourney Weaver was the newbie. All of the other cast members Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto had all starred in other films, but Weaver only had a brief appearance in Annie Hall on her résumé. Yet her fate to be the final survivor of the Nostromo started her career and gave us the only woman who could open an action picture, according to Roger Ebert. Weavers feat of being vulnerable in the quiet moments, tough and determined in the action sequences made her an instant star. Ripley was just a worker bee in the great Company, who secretly diverted her ship to an obscure planet in order to check out a new life form. Finding out that the Company considered her and her crewmates expendable, she rebelled and set out to not only defeat a fearsome creature, but the plans of the Company as well. In Aliens, she reluctantly accompanies a group of space marines back to the scene of her nightmares (and snagged a Best Actress nomination); in Alien3, she finds out that the nightmare has followed her; in Alien Resurrection her clone warns of the dangers of the yukky creatures, to deaf ears. Weaver has used her success to great effect, creating memorable characters in several films, becoming one of the few actors nominated for two acting awards in the same year (1998, Best Actress for Gorillas In The Mist, Best Supporting Actress for Working Girl). She doesnt mind taking comedic roles: she was a central character in the Ghostbusters franchise; and she nailed the issues surrounding women characters in science fiction shows with her turn in 1999s Galaxy Quest.
