What would it take to get Sigourney Weaver an Honorary Oscar?
Saturday, April 29, 2023 at 5:00PM by Nathaniel R
Sigourney Weaver in "Master Gardener"
It's the age old question. When will the Academy honor [insert your legendary favourite here] with an Honorary Oscar? Oscars for actors that excel in genres outside of pure drama always have a more difficult road to industry honors. Michelle Yeoh & Jamie Lee Curtis' recent Oscars were grand exceptions, not the rule! Sigourney Weaver is one of those performers.
The 73 year old legend's best work has largely been in science-fiction and comedy, traditionally genres that Oscar voters don't think much of in terms of "acting". Sigourney Weaver is on the brain due to a "sizzle reel" that's going around the web that you should watch after the jump...
With a career as long as Sigourney's, who made her debut in a bit part in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977) forty-six years ago, there are bound to be some performances missing -- I wanted a little The Year of Living Dangerously, Copycat, Map of the World, and The TV Set for example -- but it's a wonderful edit by Maris Malejs who was commissioned to prepare it last year and has since added in more Ripley. As one would!!!
That reel is also an unexpected reminder that Sigourney was pretty great in Call Jane, last year's abortion drama.
THE LOST FLOWERS OF ALICE HART
Next up for Weaver is a wealthy manipulative patron role in Paul Schrader's Master Gardener (she's good but the film unfortunately isn't top tier Schrader) which hits theaters in a couple of weeks. Then she's got a big role in the upcoming Amazon miniseries The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart about an orphaned young girl who moves in with her grandmother (Weaver) who runs a flower farm.
Further down the road Weaver has a supporting role in the action film The Gorge currently in production which stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy. And then of course there's a bunch more water-logged mo-capped Sigourney in the Avatar series.
What is favourite Sigourney Weaver performance aside from her iconic work as Lt. Ellen Ripley?
I'm partial to The Ice Storm and I will also never forget how hilarious she was on Broadway 10 years ago in "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike"
Reader Comments (24)
Favourite non-Ripley is Working Girl for me - iconic part, and I think she deserved that Oscar by miles.
Also, people can feel however they feel about Ghostbusters, but she's perfection in the first one.
Copycat will always be a fave for me - for her and Holly Hunter. I recently rewatched it and I just love these two together. And Sigourney’s portrayal of agoraphobia is amazing.
Wow... let's see. Working Girl, Dave, The Ice Storm, her brief appearance in Jeffrey, her cameo in Paul, the Ghostbusters franchise, Imaginary Heroes, and A Monster Calls. She's just fucking great. Yet, Ellen Ripley is her iconic performance with Aliens I think is the definitive female badass character as I think she should've gotten a shitload of accolades for that.
Copycat is a fairly underrated thriller and one I enjoyed very much. Weaver and Hunter made a good team. At this rate, perhaps there will be an 8-part limited series adaptation in a few years.
Sigourney is my favourite actress hence my user name and i'm sad she hasn't been nominated for 35 years and this clip reel brought a big warm glow to my face.
I've seen all her good and all her bad movies,big or small,lead supporting voice over or cameo,I simply love her.
She would have 8 nominations 86,88 twice,94,97,99,07 and 2022 in my own awards and 3 wins for Aliens,Working Girl and The Ice Storm
I almost died when she made a surprise final act appearence in Cabin in the Woods,a terrific horror film from 10 yrs ago,
Aside from the iconic role in the Alien franchise and funny turns in W/Girl,Galaxy Quest,Heartbreakers and the underseen The TV Set which she's hilarious in,it always frustrates me when people don't recognise what a good dramatic actress she is.
Her best work is across all genres in particular small films like Death and the Maiden,The Ice Storm for which she should have had 97's supporting Oscar,Map of the World,Call Jane etc.
She was terrific in last years The Good House which I saw just for her but unless you are are Mirren,Dench or Streep it's hard for older actresses films to be recognised.
I would love for her to get a competitive prize just as I hope Pfeiffer does but it's looking less likely.
I was praying she'd knock it out of the park and be nominated for Master Gardner,can't wait to see it.
In 1988 the Academy didn't realise by not giving Glenn And Sigourney their due that year they really messed up and no honorary will ever make up for it.
Ripley: you're right- those '88 oscars really messed everything up. Could've been an iconic ceremony.
It's since happened just as often as not, but Sigourney's double loss in 1988 was the first time an actor was nominated in lead and supporting the same year and din't win either.
let’s just bombard the academy with that sizzle reel
[although i wish it included “i am, after all, me” from ‘working girl’]
imagine if she had oscars for ‘working girl’ and ‘the ice storm’ - the range!
It’s indeed a crime that COPYCAT didn’t make it into this sizzle reel. Such an iconic thriller for me, and it really holds up. She’s also such a marvel in DAVE, a truly beautiful and unique rom com. I echo the sentiments re: THE TV SET (bless everyone who’s seen it). She’s acid-tongued and hilarious. And HEARTBREAKERS, without her, would be utterly forgettable. With her it’s such a gift. The scene when she and JLH are comparing who’s got the goods to ensnare men and without missing a beat, she fires back, “Feel my butt.” Gold. My god, how I love Sigourney. Also highly recommend her recent podcast episode on Smartless. The stories of how she met her husband and supports her nonbinary child just underscore her badassery. <3
Does anyone remember Gorillas In The Mist? I loved her in that film. Spectacular performance. It’s been 30 years since I saw it.
I almost feel as though Weaver has been too active in recent years to get the drum beats of an Honorary Oscar going right now. A little distance from media attention seems to get the buzz going, so maybe in a few years, after the last of the Avatar sequels, Weaver will get more consideration. Meanwhile, Glenn Close, who is 2 and half years older than Weaver, has those recent competitive losses and not much else since to keep her top of mind for the Governors, so, if anyone of that generation of actresses will get the push, it'll more likely be Close. And my favorite performances from Weaver are her comedies (from the Ghostbusters movie and Working Girl to Dave, Galaxy Quest, Heartbreakers, and You Again, she always elevates what could be forgettable material) and her television work in Snow White: A Tale of Terror, Prayers for Bobby, and Political Animals (all of which deserved more attention). I have yet to see A Map of the World and most of her smaller independent movies and hope she still gets some great movie roles in the years ahead.
Wow! What a great sizzle reel! And yes, it could have been 5 times as long.
Sigourney Weaver is taken for granted. She’s such exhilarating fun to watch, and so “just right” in every role, that somehow the fact that she’s displaying enormous range doesn’t register. She also lacks (thank god) the pontificating veneer that actors use to announce “I am a Great Actor”.
I love her sparkle, wit, quick pacing, whole hearted engagement, devastating line deliveries, and utter narrative clarity. She wields artistic economy in getting right to the heart of a character and a story.
And I love how there’s always something unexpected! Like in “Call Jane” where she’s playing strip poker, you think “wait, what?” and a moment later you’re thinking “god, she’s great”.
One of my favourites although it is a tiny role (but perfect) is in “Baby Mama” where she plays an entitled character of privilege who is also gifted with luck and good fortune, accepted with a sweetly self congratulatory complacence guaranteed to enrage. Her every line reading is so sharply pointed to Irritate You Beyond Belief. So satisfyingly masterful.
Outside of the Alien films, my favorite performances from her are in Working Girl and The Ice Storm. She's had a great career.
I read a few days ago that she said that returning as Ripley at this point is not going to happen. I was sad to hear that, but I'd only have wanted her to return if they built a strong film around her.
Most of what I wanted to say has already been said. However, my favorite small role of hers is a the New Age preacher in Jeffrey. She's only on the screen for about 4 minutes but she is terrific.
Always a fan of Sigourney. And so excited to get front row tickets for Vanya Sonia… but I was a bit disappointed with her performance; maybe an off night but she was the weakest in the performance I saw. Really like her paired with Kevin Kline; Ice House and Dave. Feel like she’s always competing with Streep since their Yale days for recognition. In fact, The Good House had Meryl attached for the longest time.
Will happily watch her in anything.
Would someone not be interested in doing a year with Sigourney,i'd have absh but i'm no journalist but I could gush and critique..
(she was the weak link in Vanya)
Gorillas/Working Girl (close to home)/the one with Love Hewitt
I have zero doubts she'll get the Honorary considering the populist times we are living in. Deserved plus lots of likes and RT's
I really like Sigourney. She's a strong actress and can give interesting performances. I'm curious to see what she'll do in the next few Avatars. I do wonder if someone like her could be the one to break through the motion-cap barrier for a nomination.
I've always felt bad for her Oscar journey. She's was the first actor to be double nominated and to lose both nominations. I have to imagine that was especially difficult given that she'd won both Golden Globes.
It’s such a no-brainer. She’s qualified in the traditional “This person has been great a lot and never won an Oscar” way that would qualify Glenn Close or Michelle Pfeiffer. But there’s a bigger and more persuasive genre movie narrative around Weaver that really tips it.
I'm a broken record about this: The AMPAS should clear the decks of 80- and 90-somethings all at once, just give out 30 honorary awards in one year to settle up with that generation. Then they can shift this from being an "old person's award" to one that gives credit where it's due. It's still a little perplexing but that Steve Martin win years ago was inspired. More of that, less of making people wait until they're 92.
I honestly think for actresses specifically, they hesitate to reward Weaver etc. to avoid causing offense about age. Like why not give one to Michelle Pfeiffer now? Why pretend her competitive win is coming any year now?
Peggy -- i didn't think she was a weak link in Vanya... all four of the main actors were just hilarious.
Nat I remember that review,would it not work as a film,
Pfeiffer,Weaver and Close and Bening for that matter could still win a competitive Oscar an honorary won't do for 3 acting goddesses of their calibre not when Swank has 2.
I see an opportunity for the AMPAS to refashion the Honorary Award from an "oops, our bad, you're old now!" prize into something that actually means more than the competitive Oscar.
Competitive wins are often the result of temporary career heat.
Look at the Mark Twain Prize for comedy, for instance. That's recently gone to a lot of people in their 50s and 60s who aren't anywhere near the end of their careers. It's the highest achievement in comedy and nobody thought it was "too soon" to bestow on Julia Louis Dreyfus in her late 50s. It's not "too soon" to recognize Michelle Pfeiffer or Annette Bening as a master of screen acting, why wouldn't the AMPAS want to do that?
I'm with Pam and Peggy in thinking she was the weak link in Vanya.
I have loved her for so long. I remember her on SNL, when she and Chris Durang did a bit of Das Lusitania Songspiel, which was hysterical.
I was lucky to see her in Mrs. Farnsworth at the tiny Flea theatre, where she was almost acting in my lap.
I also had the pleasure of waiting on her years ago, and she was lovely.
Outside of Ripley, I love Ice Storm, Working Girl and Jeffrey. But she's always great.