Sigourney Weaver: There are more important things in the world than me

She grew up in New York and has lived here all her life. She knows all the nooks and crannies, the passageways, secret to the visitor, but so convenient. Where are the benches with a flower bed and a comical sign “Park named after …”. It is in such a square in a Hungarian confectionery, “where amazing cheesecakes with lemon and cottage cheese and surprisingly quiet,” she makes an appointment with me.

The bakery is really quiet. Two women whisper as their babies hum in strollers. The regular rustles the newspaper. Two students with mobile phones send SMS. Looking around the tables, I don’t see Sigourney Weaver, but I do catch the eye of the woman behind the counter, who nods her head past the alabaster column. From behind a column peeps out and smiles at me the most chiseled face that I have ever seen in my life. The face of a middle-aged and not young woman, a man of a clear mind, who lived a clear, unsophisticated life and is now looking at me with a clear look.

She has hands with short nails, like a nurse’s. From cosmetics – only a little blush. White shirt, black pullover, black trousers, soft suede loafers. She has a network of wrinkles that do not spoil her, and very bright eyes. They have a clear idea of ​​things and irony. It is she who allows me to begin the interview, not taking into account either the glory of the interlocutor, or the sophistication of her manners, or aristocratic subtlety. In the end, she herself said about her recent roles, in my opinion, hinting at Avatar: “I am an elderly woman, I act in cartoons.” Said, of course, in jest. But it’s partly true: The Weaver actress in some way leads a double life. After all, it was she, with her reputation as a pillar of innovative theater, who became the “first lady of fantastic cinema” and has been holding this title for three decades.

Psychologies: You were born in the family of a pioneer of American TV, studied at the best universities, and by your first profession – an English philologist. You are one of the most respected theater actresses in America … And you became famous thanks to the mass culture – science fiction.

Safe Weaver: Safe Weaver: Do you think science fiction is a non-serious genre?

If cinema represents something, then it is able to represent it through everything – through Aliens, through Avatar, to the same extent as through the existential discussion led by the characters in Death and the Maiden. Cinema does not parse roads to the viewer’s mind or emotions. And I don’t believe that some genres have been sentenced… Although, maybe I say this, wanting to compensate for one of my old complexes.

What if not a secret?

S.W.: My complex is called Meryl. Meryl Streep. We studied together at the Yale School of Drama. I was considered unpromising, the professors all unanimously said: “Old women and prostitutes – that’s what roles are waiting for you.” And Meryl was treated with reverence. Yes, I myself saw her talent … But, you know, it still seems to me that I am offered only those roles that Meryl refused! Ripley was one of those that she was definitely not offered. Maybe that’s why I agreed. Or maybe because dad taught me respect for “commercial work”, that is, for the one that is in demand. In a word, I was already 29, my friends and I were shamanizing on a new, avant-garde, “anti-narrative” theater, rehearsing in the basements … 78, what can I say. And then I was offered the role of space pilot Ripley in Alien. Probably, what I experienced then, now I would call a cold shock – a shock of the mind. I understood that this was a chance to reach another level, but at the same time … I did not want to play this Ripley so much! I wanted to play with Woody Allen, I wanted to play with Mike Nichols, I wanted to play Shakespeare and Stoppard. And then “sci-fi”, science fiction. But there was a feeling that the decision had already been made for me. Life. And I found a way out – I did not play Ripley, but “Henry V” on Mars! For my own convenience, I made Ripley a Shakespearean character. And the flamethrower in my hands no longer bothered me.

So you think the decision was made for you?

S.W.: Do you think that we always decide? I don’t have that kind of pride. Life has made many decisions for me. Yes, look at least at the most obvious: I am 182 cm tall. And it was nature that decided for me that I will always play women who are in some way different from the norm. Women are often single, because, gosh, it’s so hard for me to find a partner for the frame! When I walked into the production office to meet the director and possible partner in Scarface, Al Pacino didn’t even stand up to shake my hand when he saw me! He decided not to demonstrate how comical we would look next. So the role of romantic heroines is not for me. And sometimes even deeper things limit. I refused to play Body Heat with Lawrence Kasdan, a wonderful director, because the script was frankly erotic, very risky. She refused because she was in love with a real “gentleman from the South” – with all his restraint, non-recognition of the power of the body and sanctimonious modesty. I was afraid to destroy the relationship, to give him unpleasant experiences. The role was played by Kathleen Turner. And I turned down the chance. But I am convinced that the decision was made in addition to me – already when I fell in love with that southerner. And Jane Campion’s “Portrait of a Lady” I rejected – it was supposed that the shooting would take place in Europe and last 17 weeks. The role of the second plan – and four months of absence in the life of my then little Charlotte … I asked the director: “Jenny, you yourself have a child. Couldn’t it be shorter?” But it turned out she was more of a director than a mother. And I’m more of a mother than an actress … Is it I who refused to play in “Portrait …”? No, it was my life that refused, the obligations to Charlotte – all that is larger and more essential than me.

You said that you consider yourself more of a mother than an actress. And they decided to have a daughter when you were 40 …

S.W.: I really wanted to have a child, but more and more despaired about this. My husband and I have been trying to have children to no avail. But one day they brought me to Charlotte. She was the most desirable child in the world!

Did anything from your experience with your mother help you?

S.W.: My mom… She was a good mother, but kind of… from now to now. My brother and I grew up in ideal conditions created by a wealthy family, we had governesses and education in private schools. Everything is on time, everything is organized – and organized by a mother who gave up her own career for the sake of her family. But at home, in England, she managed to star in Hitchcock himself! But when I asked her at the age of nine if I was pretty, she said: “No, baby, you are completely ordinary.” Mom was a reserved person, she couldn’t even pronounce the word “weasel”, let alone the action itself. It wasn’t easy for me. But when by the age of 12 I reached my 180 cm and they started laughing at me at school, I was already ready for this. But much later, of course, I drew conclusions: if Charlotte asked me if she was pretty, I was always ready to answer correctly.

Which answer do you think is correct?

S.W.: That she is, of course, the most beautiful. But not for everyone. And it will never be the most-most for all-all. This is the wisdom of life.

You and your husband have been together for 25 years. What’s the secret?

S.W.: When we met at a party after some performance, I thought that I had probably known this person all my life. He is very sober and very down to earth. He has no quirks and unreasonable ambitions. We do one thing – one theater. They raised a common child. We’re just together. And I don’t know how to explain it “simple”. We have a common territory of life, and none of us enters the other’s, because everything is in common. Yes, I’m more famous than he is, but he knows his work is just as important as mine. I have confidence that I know absolutely everything about him, although I have never asked a single question in my life. And he’s all about me, although he doesn’t ask either. Maybe that’s what it means to “find your other half”…

And yet, about age … What is 60 years for an actress and just for a woman?

S.W.: Yes, you probably already noticed that everything important in my life happened, by general standards, rather late. She reached fame only at 30. She got married at 35. She became a mother at 40. Everything happened late, but on time. Everything that seemed to be my disadvantage or failure turned out to be an advantage. Because of my height, I was not chosen by ordinary directors, but Ridley Scott and James Cameron were chosen – artists of the wrong scale to think about centimeters. I treat age as a gift. On the threshold of my 30th birthday, I rejoiced: the benefits of the “twenties” are greatly exaggerated, now I know this, after 30 I will be taken more seriously and I myself will be more serious. At 40, I gave birth to Charlotte and rejoiced because I was entering a new era of life in a new capacity – a mother, a full-fledged woman. At 50, I was happy, because this is a great age to appreciate all the advantages of adulthood, the fact that you have become a professional. And now I like 60: I already know a lot about life, I have a rough idea of ​​​​how to deal with it, and even gained some wisdom … It is that it’s fun, at least not boring – to live among people. And then, who knows what happiness looks like!

Somehow in one year you were nominated for an Oscar in two categories at once – and to no avail. This resounding loss was not a blow?

S.W.: Ha, it was the first time in history that someone became a loser in the eyes of the Oscar society twice! They looked at me with such regret! By God, it would be better if they said to your face: “You, Sigourney, are a loser, you should cry.” At least I knew how to react. Because I couldn’t say to everyone into the microphone: “People, don’t feel sorry for me, I’m exactly the same person as before this ceremony!” Nothing has changed, I do not have a complex of the eternal winner who will not survive the loss. On the contrary, failures sharpen the taste for life. Eating sweets risks taste buds … By the way, why didn’t you take a cheesecake? They have an inimitable sourness here!