Sigourney Weaver loves 'warts and all' women, from 'Working Girl' to 'Master Gardener'

NEW YORK – Sigourney Weaver never saw this coming.

Last year, the three-time Oscar nominee played blue-skinned teen Kiri in “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which made waves at the box office with $2.3 billion worldwide. Now, the “Alien” actress is earning career-best reviews for “Master Gardener” (in theaters now), a thorny morality play about a former neo-Nazi turned horticulturist (Joel Edgerton).

“To be at this point in my career where I’m enjoying it so much and I have so many different challenges is incredibly exciting – and frankly, the last thing I ever thought would happen to me,” Weaver, 73, says. “I never was terribly ambitious. Not because ambition is bad – just because I never had the confidence to think I’d ever get anywhere an ambitious person would get to.”

Sigourney Weaver, 73, plays a teen:Older actors are ‘extraordinary’

In the film, directed by “Taxi Driver” screenwriter Paul Schrader, Weaver plays a wealthy dowager named Norma who’s prepared to leave her blossoming estate to Narvel (Edgerton), her head gardener and occasional lover. But her plan gets uprooted by her estranged grandniece (Quintessa Swindell), who steals Narvel’s heart as he reckons with his violent past.

Despite her acid-tongued one-liners and daggerlike stares, Weaver didn’t concentrate on “the creepy parts of Norma,” she says. “What’s interesting to me is the light. I figure with Paul Schrader, the dark will take care of itself.”

Weaver tells us more about the movie, her most unforgettable characters and the upcoming “Avatar” sequels.

Question: You’ve said that Norma is one of the best roles you’ve ever had. Why is that?

Sigourney Weaver: I’ve always avoided playing that kind of woman because they’re usually caricatures. But with Norma, I felt that Paul created a full-bodied woman who still had a sex life and was very human. It becomes a little like “King Lear.” She gives away the kingdom and it does not work out the way she hopes.

She reminded me a bit of The Warden, your character in “Holes” (2003). They’re both these fabulous, mercurial women who run these massive operations. What do you remember about making that film?

I remember the way it started was my 8-year-old daughter (Charlotte) came running up to me with this book in her hand and said, “Mommy! Mommy! There’s a really awful woman in this book and you should play her.” And I put it out very vaguely to my agents. I didn’t realize (author Louis Sachar) was going to write it, and the fact that we had that team was so lucky. It’s such an important book and I think the movie holds up.

You’ve said you don’t agree with people who call Norma “icy.” Have there been other characters in your career that were misunderstood or mischaracterized?

When I started, I remember studios particularly were quite fixated on if you were a woman playing a role, you should always be sympathetic. And I found that absolutely nonsensical, because in a good story, you’re going to see a character go to all these different places. But there was a real (notion), like, “The audience won’t like you, and the audience won’t like your character if you show warts and all.” I’ve never really believed that.

I was reminded of Katharine, your character in “Working Girl” (1988). The Guardian called her a “pure corporate villain” and a “Machiavellian schemer.” But Tess (Melanie Griffith) was the one who stole Katharine’s job while she was laid up in the hospital with a broken leg!

And her boyfriend! Someone asked me recently, “What would Katharine be doing now?” And I said, “I know exactly what she’d be doing: She’d be working in cryptocurrency.” Katharine was the future, unfortunately. I feel like the world is filled with Katharines now. Corporate profits are everything, and they’re not worried about how people are making a living or whether they have healthcare or any of the things that used to be important to people.

What was the reception like to Katharine at the time of release?

For a long time, women would come up to me and say, “She took your boyfriend! She took your dress!” They were completely on Katharine’s side. What was fun was that women identified with Katharine and no doubt with Melanie’s character, too.

Have you similarly found that people identify with Kiri?

Yeah, I met a little girl the other day who said she wanted to name her daughter either Kiri or Sigourney. What struck me about Kiri is that she doesn’t know where she belongs and she’s at that age where she can’t conceal (her emotions). So it doesn’t surprise me that a lot of adolescent girls can identify with that. I saw this little diary in Japan that I almost bought, and the title was, “I’m as strange as you are.” That’s the message Kiri sends: “I’m strange, too, and it’s fine. We’re all strange.” I felt I was so strange at that age, so I’m thrilled I got a chance to be able to use that and put it out into the universe.