From aliens to robots to aliens again

Brace yourself, Alien fans.

Sigourney Weaver will be reprising the kick-a** role that made her an iconic sci-fi heroine.

How her Ellen Ripley will be played out is still under wraps, but you can bet she will come out all guns blazing.

"We are officially doing the last Alien," Weaver told M via a Skype interview from Berlin, Germany, last Saturday at the promotional tour of her latest movie Chappie.

"We started talking about it on the set of Chappie."

Weaver was referring to the new movie's writer-director Neill Blomkamp, who is a massive Alien fan.

The South African film-maker has just been confirmed to write and direct the next chapter of the Alien series, which will be the fifth instalment. Weaver's last outing as Ripley was in 1997's Alien: Resurrection.

"Neill grew up watching the first two movies until he wore the tapes out," she said with a smile.

"I never had the right feeling about anyone else before doing this...it'd be interesting to finish off a story that's still so beloved. I'm really looking forward to it."

The South African film-maker certainly left a deep impression on the 65-year-old actress, who has a small role in Chappie.

In the movie, which opens here tomorrow, Weaver plays the CEO of a weapons manufacturing conglomerate.

"I knew it was a small part but I wanted to be part of it," she said, explaining how she became a fan of Blomkamp after watching his first movie District 9 (2009).

She credits Sharlto Copley - who portrays the titular sentient robot via motion-capture - for bringing out the essence of the movie. "Sharlto is so brilliant as Chappie, bringing out all that vulnerability.

"Doing performance capture, which I'm very familiar with (from filming 2009's Avatar), isn't easy, yet he will steal your heart."

MESSAGE

Weaver also connected with the strong messages in the story.

"Teenagers are going through the same phases that Chappie goes through, such as bullying and being influenced by a lot of different things in society.

"Chappie overcame all that. It's a very satisfying story."

She said: "There are many communities where gangs are a very forceful influence.

"A lot of schools in South Africa are controlled by gangs, and we have a lot of that in the United States as well.

"So I think (this movie) is a really passionate message to a young person: Just be yourself and find out what you want to do."

This article was first published on March 04, 2015.
Get The New Paper for more stories.