Sigourney Weaver is so proud of Alien character Ripley

Sigourney Weaver is “so glad” her ‘Alien’ alter ego is still popular.

The 71-year-old actress first played Ellen Ripley in Sir Ridley Scott's 1979 movie and she’s proud of the character’s legacy because she was so much more strong and heroic than other females in films of the time.

She said: “I’m so glad Ripley’s had that staying power.

“In those days, films would always have a scene where the girl in the skirt is doing something heroic and then she’ll break down. Well, Walter Hill and David Giler never wrote Ripley like that.

“These were guys, like Ridley, who loved women and were with strong women so it was natural to them to create a character like her.

“Ripley has to go from being a by-the-book young lieutenant to throwing the book out the window and just improvising her way through things, which is life, and it sends the message that you can do it, no matter what it is.

Sigourney never went into the film imagining it would lead to sequels.

Speaking to Reader's Digest magazine, she said: “In those days, if you could imagine, there weren’t sequels.

"So, we did this little movie in England that we thought was going to be terrific and scary and groundbreaking, in terms of the cinematography and what Ripley was doing, but we never expected to do another one until James Cameron wrote it.”

And the ‘Avatar’ star - who played Ripley in four movies - is grateful for the doors the series opened for her.

She said: “When I went into casting meetings after ‘Alien’, it was a wonderful thing.

“It was almost like I was expected to have a flamethrower in my purse or something!”

Despite the popularity of the franchise, Sigourney has never feared being typecast because she’s always sought out “variety” in her work.

She said: “I wanted to do theatre but I wasn’t very encouraged at Yale Drama School.

“My dream was to find a repertory company – an ensemble where you could play the maid one week and the queen the other. I loved the variety of that work.

“I try to construct that in my career.

“I love doing small parts, I love doing big parts.

“I love jumping from one genre to the next. I’ve just been able to somehow do that - was never worried about being typecast.