Hollywood star Sigourney Weaver received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 81st Venice Film Festival , as a tribute to an artistic journey that, over years of appearances on set, led to performances of great intensity that are still etched in people's memories today.

Initially supported by director Alberto Barbera, the choice to award her the prize was then supported by the Board of Directors of the Biennale chaired by Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, whose press release can be read as follows: "An actress of Sigourney Weaver's caliber has few rivals. With an important theatrical background, she conquered the general cinema audience with Alien, by Ridley Scott, quickly becoming an emblematic figure of the 80s, during which she coined the image of an unprecedented heroine for the action genre, capable of successfully holding her own against the male models who until then had dominated epic and adventure cinema. Not content with having paved the way for numerous other imitators, the actress continued in her incessant search for her own identity, constantly questioned, through choices that range from genre films to comedies, from auteur films to children's films, escaping the labels that would have confined her to the victorious icon of the Reagan era».

Boasting a long series of collaborations that since the early seventies have seen her cross paths with filmmakers of the calibre of Woody Allen, James Cameron, Paul Schrader, Roman Polanski and Ang Lee, Weaver has remained more closely linked than anyone else to the character of Ripley, protagonist of the “Alien” film series .

For her performance, the star received a Best Actress nomination in James Cameron's '87 Aliens. Remembering the charismatic space heroine, Weaver revealed to Deadline that she would gladly reprise her role if the script for a new film were up to the task: "I feel like she's never far from me, but on the other hand I haven't read a script that made me say: you absolutely have to do it. For me, she's in this other dimension, safe from the Alien, for the moment. I don't really think about it but it's not completely impossible, and certainly a lot of good directors are inspired by the material. How much do audiences really need or want another Ripley movie? I don't really think about it but if the opportunity presented itself I would consider it. It's happened a few times but I'm busy doing other things too. Ripley has earned her rest."

On Ellen Ripley's profile, which paved the way for the female gender to be given a leading role in action, the actress made some interesting observations: "This freed me from having to act like a girl or dress like a girl. It was a very insightful choice by the writers. At a certain point you even forget that it's a woman. You just know that it's Ripley and you hope she survives." In addition to the artistic value that the star has shown in this role, the socio-cultural impact that the character has had on viewers has not been less, especially with regard to the female audience, who still recognize its strong relevance on the issue of rights and gender equality.

On this aspect, the actress has even been compared to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, currently running for the US presidential elections. Without hiding her emotion, she said in this regard: «We are all so excited for Kamala Harris and to think that a moment of my work could have something to do with her rise makes me really happy, actually, because it is true. So many women come up to me and thank me».

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